How Storytelling for Nonprofits Transformed My Business

Image: © Bojan Bokic | Dreamstime.com

Happy New Year! Another year has flown by and I spent the first week of January laying out plans for Crystaline Randazzo Photography for 2017.

I spent lots of time last year thinking about how I could create moving stories for my clients. I began incorporating story design into my work. This started by establishing a process to help my clients identify their long-term goals, their specific audience, and what stories had the best visual components. Not to toot my horn too much, but this thinking led to some pretty amazing storytelling.

This year I’ll continue doing strategic communications consulting and media making in Nepal. I’m working on a new project in education and I can’t wait to share what we create. I’ll also share a series of posts here on how your nonprofit can tell better stories.

In the process, you may see some posts that were originally posted at NGOStorytelling.com, a site that exists to inspire and inform humanitarian storytellers. I co-edit that space with my friend and collaborator Laura Pohl.  It’s where we geek out about media and storytelling for nonprofits. I blog there monthly, and I hope you’ll check it out.  

I do one pro bono project each year for a nonprofit organization that I love. It’s really rewarding to give back to my community. But this year, I won’t be doing any free work. Instead, I’m working on a personal project that’s close to my heart. It’s the first time I’ve designated time for this kind of thing. I’m excited (and nervous) to try something completely new.

I’ve been building my freelance business since 2010.  When I started this business, I just wanted to make beautiful photographs. But over time I learned that being a media maker isn’t enough for me. I don’t want to photograph trainings or conferences. I want to capture the impact of the important work that nonprofits do. I want to spend time with the people who share their lives in my films. And I want the media I create to connect with donors on an emotional level.

It feels important for me to hold space for these stories. Over the years many things have changed for me – and I don’t know what will shift this year – but I’m excited to get out there, find amazing stories, and share them with the world.