[Foundation-l] Wikimedia "Storyteller" job opening

[Erik Moeller]

Stories are absolutely essential to any non-profit's ability to
persuade new people to support or join its cause. Sometimes we tell
our stories well, sometimes we tell them poorly. Telling a story well
is a very specific skillset that few people possess. Even for those
who are good writers (and of course there are many in Wikimedia), it
takes a lot of conscious effort to construct a narrative in a way
that's accessible and appealing to someone who's not already on the
inside.

We've talked about this issue at length in the past. Back in October
2007, I tried to call attention to the significance of storytelling
specifically in fundraising:

http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2007-October/thread.html#33431

In that fundraiser, we made some first humble efforts at storytelling,
and we've more systematically collected and compiled stories since
then. But just putting stories on a page, like this one:

http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Stories2/en

Is not going to persuade anyone to support us. As Zack said, in the
context of fundraising, it's all about distilling essential points
effectively. In the context of other movement work, such as public
outreach, it's about connecting with our target audience by choosing
meaningful examples that resonate (how do you talk to educators, to
scientists, to students).  People have made attempts at telling
success stories of public outreach here, for example:

http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Success_stories

But all these stories would benefit from a more skillful approach to
telling them. The structure of a story is one of the most fundamental
ways in which human beings understand the world, and we all have a
regrettable tendency to underestimate that significance. As I have in
the past, I'd really encourage you to watch Andy Goodman's talk in
full:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-289257716014946841

He gives plenty of examples of non-profits that are terrible at
telling their own story, which can have disastrous consequences.
There's absolutely nothing morally questionable about telling a story
effectively -- if anything it's morally pernicious to tell an
important story poorly. To have a staff position dedicated to this is
a wonderful thing, and if we find someone really good for this job,
the benefits will become obvious really, really quickly.

-- 
Erik Möller
Deputy Director, Wikimedia Foundation

Support Free Knowledge: http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate