AFP Greater Austin One Day Conference · October 9, 2026
Use What You've Got
Everything from the session in one place: the slides, the one-page plan, the visioning session guide, the story tools and the two exercises.
Take it with you
The one-page plan
The worksheet from the room, blank. Make a copy to fill it in again with your team.
The four moves
You don't need more staff or a new database to start. You need your why, your people, a story habit and one lane.
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Why
Get your why out loud before you write an appeal. The question that gets past the mission statement: what are you most afraid donors won't see?
Do this MondayAsk that question at your next staff meeting. Write down what people say, word for word. Then pick the one thing you want every audience to know. When you're ready for the full conversation, the visioning session guide is below.
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Who
Your prospect list is people you already know. Start with doors: a kind of person plus the reason they care. "Neighbors" isn't a door. "Neighbors who watched us turn the vacant lot into a garden" is. Then keep a name only if all three are true:
- They could give at a level that matters to you right now.
- They have a real connection to the mission.
- Someone can reach out in the next 30 days.
Do this MondayRun the full map with three to five staff and board members, on paper, with snacks. Nobody leaves until every name has an owner and a date.
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Story
Collect stories as a habit, so you aren't hunting for one at every deadline.
- Name the trigger: a cohort graduates, a season wraps, a number surprises you.
- Send an open call, not a targeted ask.
- Have a real conversation. An interview beats a form.
- The person approves the final version before any donor sees it.
Do this MondayDecide as a team what counts as a trigger. The email, questions and checklist are below.
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Plan
Pick one lane for six months, 1:1 gifts or recurring giving, and say what you're not building yet. It's a lean, not a wall. Whichever lane you pick, the floor is one touch a quarter that isn't an ask.
Do this MondayPut the date you'll revisit your lane on a calendar. Six months is a fine default.
The Find Your Why session
This is the session American YouthWorks ran in May, and it's where the question from Move 1 comes from. It's one conversation, held once, that asks why this work matters and why it matters right now. It isn't a strategy session or a campaign brainstorm. It's closer to group therapy for an organization's sense of purpose. That's a little uncomfortable, and that's the point.
Who to invite
Five to eight people, ideally.
- The ED or CEO. This doesn't work without the person who sets the tone in the room.
- Whoever writes appeals and emails or makes asks day to day.
- One or two program staff closest to the work.
- A board member, if you can get one, especially someone on a fundraising or development committee.
- A program participant or alum, if it can be arranged without putting them in an extractive position. Skip it if it'd feel like tokenizing someone.
Logistics
- Time. 60 minutes minimum, 90 is more honest. Don't compress this into 45. The silences are load-bearing.
- Format. In person if at all possible. The pauses and the room's energy are part of how it works.
- Roles. One facilitator who holds the agenda and asks the questions, and one dedicated notetaker. Don't combine these.
- Materials. A visible timer, and a whiteboard or big paper the room can see.
Ground rules
Read these out loud at the start. They keep the conversation from sliding back into logistics.
- We start with the world, then zoom into the organization.
- We are not talking about a specific event.
- We are not talking about a specific campaign.
- We're only talking about story and why.
- We're coming from a place of joy.
Then say one more thing: "If we drift into logistics or event details, that's fine. It usually means we're getting close to something real, but I'm going to redirect us." Groups drift, almost always in the first 15 minutes.
The agenda
Six segments, about 60 minutes. Add 15 to 20 minutes if the group is larger than six or it's your first time facilitating.
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1. Grounding
10 minGet people thinking as donors themselves before turning the lens inward.
- Think of an organization you currently support personally. Why do you give? Who asked you? Why do you keep giving?
- Think of one you used to support and stopped. Why did you stop?
Trust and finances come up almost every time someone explains why they stopped giving. Note it and move on. This is a warm-up.
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2. Why us, right now
10 minGet past mission-statement language and into what's true about this specific moment.
- Why does our work matter right now? Not in general. In this moment. Give the room 60 seconds of silent thinking before anyone speaks.
- What's a declarative statement we could make right now, just about the fact that we're still here doing this work?
Resist filling the silence. The first thing said out loud is rarely anyone's real answer. It's the safe one.
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3. What we actually believe
10 min- What do we believe about the people we serve that most systems get wrong?
- Of everything we just named, what are we most afraid donors won't see?
The second question is usually where the real material shows up. Write the answers down close to verbatim.
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4. TRIZ
15 minTRIZ flips the usual question. You don't ask how to build donor connection. You ask how you'd guarantee there was none. It's easier for a group to describe failure than to describe success from a blank page, and the failure usually shows what's already happening.
- If we wanted to make absolutely sure no donor ever felt connected to this work, what would we do? Build the list. Encourage bluntness. Treat it like a game, not a confession.
- Go down the list item by item. Is there anything we're currently doing, in any form, that resembles this? Be honest. This second list is the one that matters.
- For each item on the honest list: what's the opposite, and where do we already see a piece of that here? What's one first step toward more of it?
Step 2 is where rooms get quiet. Don't rush past it or soften it. A common finding: "most of our donor touchpoints are just an ask." Let that sit.
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5. The donor in the room
5 min- Think back to the organization you named in Grounding. What made you feel like you were part of something, not just making a transaction? What do we want our own donors to feel?
Short by design. Don't let it run long.
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6. What, so what, now what
10 min- What did we learn today that we didn't know coming in?
- So what does that mean for how we tell this story?
- Now what are we carrying into the next phase?
Start drafting North Stars out loud, in the room, where everyone can see them. Don't wait until you're back at your desk.
What you leave with
- A story arc. Three to five paragraphs in plain language. Start with something true about the world or the community. Bring it home to what you do. Land on the invitation: what does joining in mean? If it's running longer, the center hasn't been found yet.
- Two or three North Stars. Each is one declarative sentence, then two or three sentences on what it means and why it matters now. They aren't taglines. They're the internal compass you check every story against. One of AYW's: "The system is the problem, not the young person."
What we've learned running it
- The room will try to talk about the event or the campaign. Redirect gently: "we'll get to that, but not today."
- TRIZ gets a room to admit hard truths faster than asking directly does. Don't rush to solve what it surfaces.
- The strongest North Stars tend to come out of "what are we most afraid donors won't see."
- Watch for deficit-framed stories about the people you serve, even well-meant ones. Flag them for your storytelling work.
- Don't skip the 60 seconds of silence.
Story tools
The three take-homes from Move 3. Change the brackets and they're yours.
The open-call email
Send this to a whole group, like a mailing list, an alumni group or a program roster. Don't send it to one person as an individual ask.
Subject: [Program Name] Storytellers Wanted!
Hi [Program Name] Community,
We're gathering stories for [campaign or event name] this [timeframe], to help show what [Org Name] actually does and why it matters.
If something about your time with us stands out — a moment, a turning point, a person who helped — we'd love to hear it. These stories may show up in our newsletter, on our blog, on social media, or in event materials, always with your review and approval first.
We'd love to set up a short conversation, in person or by video, whenever works for you — it usually leads to a better story than a form ever does. If a conversation isn't possible right now, you're welcome to share a few written reflections and a photo instead.
Interested? Just reply to this email or reach out to [contact name/email], and we'll find a time that works.
And if you know someone else with a story worth telling, forward this along — we'd love to hear from them too.
[Sign-off],
[Name/Title]
Interview starter questions
These are guides, not a script. You're after a real conversation.
- What was going on in your life when you connected with [org/program]?
- What were you hoping would happen?
- Was there a moment when something almost pulled you off track? What kept you going?
- What did it mean to you to be treated like a whole person here?
- If you could tell a donor one thing about what this place actually does, what would it be?
- Is there anything you don't want us to share?
Always close with: how do you want to be identified in the materials, and what would you like people to know about you besides this story?
Before it goes out
Run any donor-facing use of a story through this first.
- Did the person volunteer to share, or were they asked directly?
- Do they know specifically how and where this will be used?
- Have they reviewed and approved the final version?
- Was a stipend offered, if that's something the org can do?
- People-first language throughout?
- Active voice where naming systems and barriers?
- No vague buzzwords ("at-risk," "underserved"), replaced with specifics?
- Is the org positioned as scaffold, not hero? Are donors partners, not rescuers?
- Does the person come across as an agent in their own life?
- Does it honor the complexity of their experience?
- Is there anything here that could harm the person if it reached the wrong audience?
- Would they recognize themselves positively in this?
- Does this reinforce strength, not deficit?
- Does the ask follow naturally from the story, without exploiting it?
Two exercises to run with your team
Both are Liberating Structures: short, repeatable ways to run a conversation so everyone in the room takes part.
15% Solutions
This is how we closed. Whatever else is out of your hands, some part of this is yours to act on today.
- Ask: what can you do right now, without more budget, more staff or anyone's permission?
- One minute alone. Write one name, one owner and one date.
- Three minutes in pairs. Your partner asks one thing: what would make that easier?
It takes about five minutes, so it fits at the end of a staff or board meeting.
Creative Destruction (TRIZ)
TRIZ is the exercise at the center of the Find Your Why session. You ask how you'd get the worst possible result, which makes it easier to see what to stop doing.
Our donor version, with its three steps, is segment 4 of the session above, where it runs 15 minutes. On its own, Liberating Structures suggests 50 to 55 minutes.
Cat Ashton
Giant Squid Group
catherine@giantsquidgroup.com
Cat on LinkedIn
Jonnyka Bormann
American YouthWorks
jbormann@ayw.org
Jonnyka on LinkedIn
15% Solutions, Creative Destruction (TRIZ) and What, So What, Now What are Liberating Structures, developed by Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless and shared under a Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 license.