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Funding
How to turn charity data into a story funders actually feel
A number on its own is a claim. A number with a person inside it is proof. The One Number Method for impact reports, ESG reports, bids and board papers.
You have the data. Completion rates, people supported, satisfaction scores, year-on-year growth. It’s real, it’s in your annual report and your bids, and it proves your work matters.
And almost nobody remembers it. Not the board, not the funder, often not even your own team.
This guide is for anyone who has to make impact data land: charity leaders writing bids and reports, and CSR and ESG teams reporting on community programmes. It sets out one simple method you can use this week.
Why this matters now
Money is tighter across the sector. CAF’s UK Giving Report found that 50% of people donated in 2024, down from 58% in 2019, which puts more weight on every bid and report you write.
When I asked just over 300 readers of my newsletter about their main storytelling challenge, funding came up more than any other theme. And when a large UK funder asked its own grant holders what support they needed beyond the money, two of the four themes that came back were confidence with data and storytelling.
The people who hold the money and the people who need it are describing the same gap from opposite sides. Funders want to see what changed. Organisations have the evidence but can’t make it speak.
Why impact data gets forgotten
Most organisations treat data and storytelling as two separate jobs. The impact team produces the numbers and the comms team writes the stories. So the annual report has a moving case study on page four and a table of outcomes on page twelve, and they never meet.
A funder who reads the case study without the data thinks: “Lovely, but is it typical?” A funder who reads the table without a person thinks: “Impressive, but what does it look like on the ground?” You need both, together, in the same paragraph.
Three habits make it worse:
Leading with the total. “Last year we supported 4,200 people” is too big to picture. Start with one person, then zoom out, and every one of the 4,200 has a face.
Keeping the person and the evidence apart. Readers are skimming between meetings. If they have to connect the story to the numbers themselves, they won’t.
Treating every number as equally important. A report might hold thirty figures. A funder will remember one or two. If you don’t choose, they’ll choose for you, or remember none.
The One Number Method
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A number on its own is a claim. A number with a person inside it is proof.
This is the three-step method I use and teach for turning any data point into something people feel and remember.
Step 1: Pick one number
Choose your most human number, not your most impressive one. Ask: which figure, explained at a dinner party, would make someone put their fork down?
One number only. Not three, not a comparison.
A change, a gap or a threshold, rather than a volume. “We served 2,000 meals” is volume. “43 women completed the recovery programme” is a threshold.
Real numbers over percentages. You can picture 43 people in a room. You can’t picture 87%.
Step 2: Find the person inside it
Identify one real person this number represents, and what was true for them before, during and after. You don’t need a full case study. One moment, one detail, one sentence about what changed.
If they can’t be named, be specific about the situation instead. “A single mother in temporary accommodation who hadn’t slept more than four hours a night in six months” is specific. “A vulnerable person” isn’t.
If you don’t have a real example, don’t invent one. Ask your frontline team. The stories are there. They just aren’t reaching the people writing the report. I built a free Story Capture Pipeline in Notion to fix exactly that.
Step 3: Show the movement
Answer two questions: what happens if this number goes up, and what happens if it goes down?
Be specific. “More people will be helped” is too vague. “Twelve more young people will complete the programme this year, each with a named mentor and a plan for what comes next” is something a funder can act on. Including what happens if support stops is simply telling the truth about what the number means.
Ask for: every major number in a bid or report to come with one named or specific person, and a sentence on what happens if the number moves.
Where to use it
Funding bids. Lead with the person in one paragraph. Then the number: “and there are 612 others like her.” Then the stakes.
Impact reports and ESG reports. Choose three numbers and apply the method to each. They become the spine of the report. Everything else goes in a table at the back.
Board papers. Open with one paragraph using the method, then move into the analysis. The story makes sure the numbers are read properly.
LinkedIn and digital content. The person is the opening line. The number comes second. The stakes come last.
Ask for: three numbers, chosen in advance, as the structure of your next report, before anyone starts writing.
Data-led or story-led?
I’m often asked whether an organisation should be data-led or story-led, as if they were opposites. The story makes the data feel real, and the data makes the story feel true. The organisations that keep funders and boards with them do both, in the same breath.
If you’re thinking “we don’t have anyone who can do both”, that’s normal. It’s a skill that can be learned. It starts with one habit: every time you write a number, ask who is inside it.
One honest note about learning it. A single training session rarely changes how a team writes. It sticks when people use it on a real report, then come back and talk about what happened.
Six questions to ask before your next report or bid goes out
Which one number matters most, and why?
Who is one real person inside it?
What changed for them?
What happens if the number goes up, or down?
Are the story and the evidence in the same place?
Could a funder repeat the main point after reading it once?
Where to start this week
Open your latest report or bid. Find the first number. Write three sentences: who is inside it, what changed for them, and what happens if the number moves the wrong way. You’ve just turned a data point into a story.
If you’d like help building your next impact or ESG report around the stories behind the numbers, that’s part of my storytelling consultancy.
Questions people ask
How many data points should a funding application feature?
One to three, each told with the One Number Method. Put the full data in a supporting section.
What if we can’t name the person behind the data?
You don’t need a name. You need specific detail about their situation, enough that the reader sees a human being rather than a category. See ethical storytelling and the Naz Rule for getting consent right.
Should we use charts or written stories?
Both. A chart answers “how many?” A story answers “what did it mean?” Put them side by side.
Can AI help find the stories in our data?
It can help you choose which numbers to lead with and what to ask your team. It must never invent people, quotes or experiences. The stories have to come from real people, with their consent.
Matt Mahmood-Ogston is a London-based social impact storyteller and documentary photographer. He founded the Naz and Matt Foundation in 2014 and has led it for more than 12 years.
