Because the most powerful voice for your charity isn’t yours. It’s theirs.
Here’s something that might sting a bit: nobody cares about your carefully crafted charity messaging as much as they care about why their mate Sarah is running a half marathon at 6am on a Sunday.
Your brand guidelines, your key messages, your perfectly polished case for support? All important. All necessary. But when it comes to community fundraising, they’re not what inspires people to open their wallets.
What does? A real person, someone they actually know, sharing why this cause matters to them.
That’s the magic of community fundraising. Every fundraiser who signs up brings something you could never create: their own authentic story, told in their own voice, to people who trust them.
Your job isn’t to control that story. It’s to help them tell it brilliantly.
The Story Gap (And Why Most Fundraisers Don’t Fill It)
Picture this: someone’s just signed up to fundraise for your cause. They’re excited, motivated, ready to make a difference.
Then they open their fundraising page and stare at that big empty box: “Why I’m fundraising…”
Panic sets in.
What do I write? Will I sound stupid? Is this too personal? Not personal enough?
Twenty minutes later, they’ve typed and deleted five different versions. So they either write something incredibly generic (“I’m fundraising for this amazing charity because they do great work”) or they leave it blank entirely.
This is the story gap. The space between having a powerful reason to fundraise and being able to articulate it in a way that resonates.
And it’s costing you thousands in lost donations.
Why Personal Stories Actually Work
Let us show you two fundraising pages we saw recently for the same marathon, same charity.
Page One:
“I’m running the London Marathon for [Charity Name]. They do amazing work. Please sponsor me if you can!”
Page Two:
“When my sister was diagnosed with [condition] three years ago, I didn’t know where to turn. [Charity Name] was there for our whole family. The support worker who helped us literally changed everything. I’m running 26.2 miles because I want other families to get the same help we did. Every £30 funds an hour of that life-changing support.”
The second page raised nearly four times as much. Not because the person had more friends. Because they told a story that made people feel something.
Personal stories work because they make the cause tangible, create emotional connection, and give people a specific reason to care right now.
Studies on charitable giving consistently show that personal narratives are more effective at motivating donations than statistical evidence or organisational messaging.
Stories stick. Stats slide off.
The Stories Your Fundraisers Actually Have
Here’s what’s brilliant: every single person who chooses to fundraise for you has a story. Always.
Nobody randomly decides to put themselves through a gruelling challenge for a cause they have zero connection to. There’s always a reason.
Maybe it’s personal experience (“This happened to me, and your charity helped”). Maybe they’re a witness (“I saw this issue up close and it changed me”). Maybe it’s values-driven (“This matters because of who I am and what I believe”). Maybe it’s gratitude (“Life’s been good to me and I want to give back”).
All of these are valid. All of these are powerful. All of these can inspire donations.
Your job is to help them find their story and feel confident sharing it.
How to Help People Find Their Story
Most fundraisers don’t need you to write their story. They need you to help them discover it.
Ask better questions.
Don’t just have a blank text box. Guide people with prompts:
- Why did you choose to support us?
- Is there a personal connection to this cause?
- What made you decide to take on this challenge?
Normalise vulnerability.
Give them permission to be real. One hospice sends all new fundraisers a message that says: “The most successful fundraising pages are the ones where people share something personal. Don’t worry about being too emotional; just tell people the truth about why you’re doing this.”
That simple permission increases personal story sharing by about 60%.
Provide examples (but not templates).
Show real examples from past fundraisers (with permission). Show the range- some short, some long, some deeply personal, some more general.
But don’t provide word-for-word templates for the story section. That’s where their authentic voice needs to come through.
Offer different levels of sharing.
Not everyone’s comfortable with the same level of disclosure:
- High share: “My daughter has [condition], and this charity saved her life.”
- Medium share: “I’ve seen first-hand how this charity helps families like mine.”
- Low share: “This cause matters because I’ve seen the difference it makes.”
All of these are personal. All create connection. They just operate at different vulnerability levels.
The Technical Bits That Make Stories Shine
Even the best story can fall flat if it’s presented poorly.
Photos matter enormously. A fundraising page with a personal photo raises significantly more than one with a generic image. The photo doesn’t need to be professional. It needs to be authentic.
Keep paragraphs short. Nobody’s reading a 500-word essay. Three or four sentences max. Easy to scan on a phone screen.
Start strong. The first sentence is crucial.
Bad: “I’ve decided to take on the challenge of running a marathon this year.”
Good: “Three years ago, my mum was diagnosed with dementia.”
End with a clear ask. “I’m aiming to raise £500, which will fund ten counselling sessions. If you can spare £20, £10, or even £5, I’d be so grateful.”
Beyond the Page: Amplifying Their Voice
The fundraising page is just the start. The real magic happens when fundraisers share their stories across their networks.
Make it easy for them to share on social media. Provide image templates they can personalise. Suggest post ideas that invite storytelling. Share and amplify their posts from your channels.
But here’s the key: don’t give them corporate-speak to copy and paste. Encourage them to use their own voice and be their authentic selves.
If someone’s comfortable on camera, encourage video. A 30-second phone video of someone explaining why they’re fundraising can be more compelling than the most polished charity advert.
Trust Them to Tell It Right
When someone fundraises for you, they’re representing your cause to their entire network. That’s a massive opportunity.
Trust them to tell it right. Yes, occasionally someone might say something that isn’t quite accurate. That’s okay. The authenticity and personal connection they bring is worth far more than perfect messaging.
Gently correct only if necessary. If someone’s sharing genuinely harmful misinformation, have a quiet, supportive word. But let people be themselves. Let them use their own words, their own humor, their own style.
That’s what makes it powerful.
The Bottom Line: Let Them Be the Hero
Your charity does important work. Crucial work. World-changing work.
But when it comes to community fundraising, you’re not the hero of the story. Your fundraisers are.
They’re the ones putting themselves out there, asking their networks for support. They’re the brave ones.
Your job is to empower them to tell their story in a way that honors their bravery, connects with their network, and advances your cause.
Give them the tools, the permission, the encouragement, and the platform to share why this matters to them.
Then step back and let their voices do what yours never could: reach the people who trust them, move the people who know them, and inspire action in communities you’d never reach on your own.
Because the most powerful voice for your charity isn’t yours.
It’s theirs.
Want more strategies to support your community fundraisers? Check out The Ultimate Guide to Community Fundraising or dive into The Psychology of Participation to understand what motivates people to share their stories in the first place.