Which impact stories to develop first, when you can't do them all

Once your team starts capturing stories, a new problem appears. You have more leads than you can develop.

Developing one story properly takes hours: an interview, a write-up, consent, photography, editing and sign-off. If your team captures ten leads a month and you have time for two, which two?

This guide is for leaders who decide where storytelling time goes.

How most organisations choose

Usually by accident.

Convenience. Whoever replied to the email first, or happened to be free when the photographer was.

Emotion. The story that made someone cry in the team meeting.

Panic. A deadline is close, so whoever is willing gets chosen.

None of these are strategic. And the cost shows up later, when the funding bid needs a story that proves your work and the one you developed doesn’t.

The pattern I see most

An organisation captures fifteen story leads. A good start. Then it develops the story of the staff volunteer day, because the photos are good and everyone’s enthusiastic. It takes two days and gets some likes.

But it doesn’t show change in anyone’s life. When the funding application arrives three weeks later, it’s almost no use.

Meanwhile, the story of a young person who challenged discrimination at work for the first time, which shows exactly the change the organisation exists to create, sits in the “maybe later” pile. Until the person moves away, the details fade or the relationship goes cold.

Four questions

Run every captured lead through these before anyone spends time on it.

1. Does it show the change we exist to create? Being moving isn’t enough. Does it show movement towards your End Vision?

2. Is the timing right? Is there a deadline coming? Will this disappear if we wait?

3. Can we actually finish it? Is there consent? Can the person take part safely?

4. Does it fill a gap? Do we already have plenty of stories like this one?

And one question that settles most decisions:

If you’d like to score leads properly, I’ve set out the weighted Story Triage Matrix in how to build a charity storytelling plan that wins funding.

Ask for: a short weekly review where every new story lead is checked against the four questions before any time is spent on it.

Saying “not yet”

This is the part people find hardest. Someone has offered their story. It feels wrong to say “not this one” or “not now”.

But developing the wrong story wastes their time as well as yours. If it doesn’t prove your work, it sits in a folder and nobody sees it. The person gave something and got nothing back.

So say “not yet” honestly and kindly. Explain that you’re keeping their story, that you may come back to it, and what would make that happen. Keep the lead, with their permission, and look at it again next quarter.

Ask for: a kind, honest “not yet” message your team can use, so nobody feels their story was ignored.

What changes when you get this right

You stop scrambling at deadlines, because the right stories are already in development. Your team spends less time on stories that go nowhere. And funders see change in people’s lives, rather than activity.

Six questions for your next weekly review

1. Which new leads came in this week?

2. Which ones show the change we exist to create?

3. Which ones will disappear if we wait?

4. Which can we actually finish, with consent?

5. What kind of story are we missing?

6. Who needs a kind “not yet”?

Where to start this week

List every story lead your team has mentioned in the last month. Run each through the four questions. Pick two. Tell the others “not yet”, kindly.

If you’d like your team to build a capture and triage habit together, that’s part of my social impact storytelling workshops.

Questions people ask

How many stories should a small charity develop at once?

Usually one or two a month, chosen carefully, is enough to keep bids and reports supplied with strong stories.

What should we do with stories we don’t develop?

Keep them, with the person’s permission, and review them each quarter. A story that doesn’t fit now may be exactly right for a future bid.

Who should decide which stories are developed?

One person who understands both the organisation’s goals and the realities of consent, ideally with input from the frontline team who captured the story.