Tell a Story & Make Helping Out Fun

Poverty.com displays a counter. This counter shows the number of hunger deaths each hour. Alongside, the counter shows pictures of children who recently died of hunger. Seeing the counter update and the list scroll as the new pictures pop up is both heart wrenching, and a very effective way of getting the message across. 
Poverty.com also made it easy to help out. 
They run an ad sponsored game that you can play to feed hungry people free rice. The game has generated over 25 billion grains of rice in its first 6 months.

Darfurisdying is a bleak video game that shows the threats people face in Darfur. By placing the viewer in the context of the game, the threats become much more concrete and personal. It's an involving way of getting a message across, and has a viral component. Players are urged to send the game to their friends.

"Having a great story to tell" is a contemporary marketing approach. Marketers try and turn dry company histories and services into stories, because stories are compelling and memorable. Thankfully, many non-profits and charity organizations have great stories to tell! Often, their reason for being is to help solve a tragedy.

In essence, all stories are tragedies. They move from a point of stasis, to a crisis, to resolution. Think about how you can frame your non-profit as a story. Poverty.com tells a memorable story.