By Matt Mahmood-Ogston
Matt Mahmood-Ogston is a social impact photographer, storytelling consultant, and Founder CEO of the award-winning Naz and Matt Foundation. He has spent the last 11 years delivering front-line domestic abuse support services, and using storytelling to create change in families, communities, and government policy. He’ll be delivering a storytelling workshop for ACEVO on 19 February 2026.
Charities communicate more than ever. Yet action has never been harder to secure.
We share updates across every channel. We produce reports filled with data. We tell stories that should, in theory, move people. But despite all that effort, the shift we hope for rarely happens.
This is the quiet contradiction many leaders now face.
The public feels informed. Supporters feel sympathetic. Beneficiaries feel seen. But the people who most need to act – including funders – often respond with interest rather than commitment.
The story reaches them, but it doesn’t activate them. This is something I’ve learned first-hand.
For the past 11 years, I’ve led Naz and Matt Foundation, a multi-award-winning charity where storytelling sits at the heart of everything we do. We use stories to shift attitudes in families, open doors in communities, and influence policy at government level. I’ve seen what happens when a story lands properly. And I’ve seen what happens when it doesn’t.
The real barrier isn’t visibility
Many organisations assume the issue is reach.
In reality, visibility is rarely the barrier. The barrier is that too many stories in our sector stop at awareness. Awareness helps someone understand that a problem exists. Action requires them to feel that the problem matters to them personally.
That emotional connection is the difference between reading a story and being changed by it.
Why storytelling is now a leadership skill
This is where leadership becomes crucial.
Storytelling is no longer a soft skill or a comms tactic. It’s a strategic tool that affects:
- Funding
- Governance
- Public trust
- Organisational culture
- Societal attitudes
When leaders shape stories with clarity, purpose and ethical care, those stories influence how people think, how they feel, and how they choose to participate in your mission.
What a charity story is actually supposed to do
A useful starting point is understanding the purpose of a charity story.
It’s not a programme summary. It’s not a newsletter update. It’s not evidence for a funder. A story should show the human stakes of your mission in a way that helps someone see themselves in relation to the issue.
That could be:
- A supporter deciding to donate
- A policymaker rethinking an assumption
- A trustee understanding a risk more clearly
- A funder realising the urgency of your work
Stories are most powerful when they help people recognise their own role in creating change.
Start with the emotional destination
Before drafting anything, ask two questions.
First, what do we want someone to feel at the end of this story? Second, what do we want them to do with that feeling? These two decisions quietly shape every narrative choice you make. Without them, stories drift toward general awareness.
With them, stories gain direction and purpose.
Why most charity stories fall flat
Many charity stories fall short because they start with information rather than emotion.
They explain the service. They list the challenges. They present the data. But they never give the reader a moment of genuine human connection. People act when something resonates with their identity or values. They act when a story helps them see the world differently.
If a story moves too quickly to solutions, or if it focuses more on organisational activity than human experience, it loses the tension that behaviour change depends on.
Build around one small human moment
A practical way to strengthen impact is to build the story around one small human moment. A technique we’ll be using in my upcoming ACEVO storytelling workshop on 19 February 2026
It works like this:
- Start with a scene or experience from one person’s life. It doesn’t need to be dramatic. It simply needs to be real.
- Introduce the barrier that person faced and what might have happened if nothing changed. This is where readers begin to understand the stakes.
- Describe the turning point. Not a dramatic rescue, but a shift that allowed progress to begin.
- Show the change that followed.
- Connect this individual story back to the wider mission or systemic issue your organisation is working to address.
This structure works because it mirrors how people make sense of the world.
We understand big issues through small details. We empathise more easily with one person than with a group. And we remember stories that help us understand why something matters-not just how it works.
Ethics must remain central
Across all of this, ethics must stay at the heart of your storytelling.
Many charities operate in contexts involving trauma, identity, or communities that face significant risk. Storytelling needs to honour dignity, not extract emotion.
Ethical storytelling means:
- Obtaining meaningful consent
- Describing experiences with care
- Avoiding sensationalism
- Allowing individuals to retain agency in how their story is presented
It also means thinking carefully about who benefits from telling the story. And whether the individual is safe, comfortable and informed about how their story will be used.
The role of photography
Photography can deepen this process when used responsibly.
Visual storytelling helps people understand complex issues quickly because images communicate emotion and context without the need for long explanations. A well-taken photograph can show the environment someone lives in, the relationships that support them, or the reality of a barrier that words struggle to capture.
For leaders, photography is often the missing link that helps boards, supporters and funders fully grasp the impact of your work. It’s one of the reasons I now work as a social impact photographer alongside my charity leadership – because I’ve seen how the right image can unlock understanding in ways that words alone sometimes can’t.
The same ethical safeguards apply. Consent needs to extend to both story and image.
Building a storytelling culture
For organisations that want to strengthen their storytelling, the work needs to begin deep within the organisation, not just in the comms team.
Staff need permission to notice, share and record meaningful moments. Safeguarding processes must be built into storytelling workflows. Leaders should articulate a clear narrative about the organisation’s purpose, values and long-term aims so that stories across different teams feel aligned rather than disconnected.
Trustees should engage regularly with frontline insights, not only quantitative reports.
And perhaps most importantly, leaders should treat storytelling as a strategic behaviour that supports the mission – rather than as a creative task delegated downward.
The shift that matters
When storytelling is understood in this way, its role in strengthening funding, governance, public understanding and organisational alignment becomes clear.
Stories that spark action are not accidental. They are designed with intention, built with care and rooted in an honest understanding of the human experience behind your work.
When leaders invest in this skill, they help people move:
- From interest to involvement
- From sympathy to commitment
- From awareness to action
That’s the shift that changes everything.