Lessons learned from planning and running international resource trips

Thanks to Samara Linehan for putting together this awesome guide!

Many of the clients we work with at Creagivity like to collect their stories on an appeal-by-appeal basis. But as I’ve learned from personal experience, not all charities have that option open to them.

I used to work for an international development charity. Sure, the partner organisations on the ground would send through change stories with their reporting… but these offerings rarely included the kinds of detail and substance that are absolute must haves if you’re going to craft a strong appeal.

Collecting a story of that nature required going to the field in person, which meant a whole lot of preparation and planning. Because if you’re going to fly 20+ hours across the world, then drive hours more once in country to reach remote communities… you better be certain that you’re making the most of your time there.

But here’s the thing…

While it certainly took extra effort and care to gather appeal stories in batches, we’d always come away from these trips with a clear appeal roadmap for the next 12 (sometimes even 18!) months.

And as you might imagine… knowing you’ve already got strong stories earmarked for every appeal on your fundraising calendar, serves to relieve a whole boatload lot of stress. As well as giving the fundraising team a useful jump on their planning and strategy.

Moral to my meandering thoughts?

It’s 100% worth making the time to collect your stories in batches. And to help you with your planning… here are 6 things for you to do if you’d like to give it a go.

1. Select your stories carefully

Be strategic about the stories you choose. Ask yourself…

• How many stories do I need? (i.e. how many appeals am I collecting for?)
• What are the appeal themes? (i.e. would certain stories be a better match for certain appeals?)
• Which appeals are my priority? (i.e. what is the minimum number of stories I need to source to make my efforts worthwhile?)
• Which stories might work across several appeals, so that we have more options / flexibility in case one selection doesn’t pan out?
• And most importantly, do these stories work well for my primary purpose of fundraising?

2. Involve your frontline workers

The easiest way to source strong appeal stories is to enlist the help of those on the frontline of your organisation. But remember… it’s not enough for you to ask them to choose 4-5 people for you to interview, you need to be specific about what you’re hoping to collect. Especially when it comes to stories used for fundraising purposes.

Some things I like to highlight for frontline workers…

• Donors usually respond more strongly to women. And especially mums with young kids.
• Expressive talkers who enjoy a conversation usually make the best interviewees, especially if you’re also collecting video
• The best stories demonstrate clear need before seeking support from your charity
• The best stories have at least one or two examples of tangible, easy to understand support provided by your charity, not another peer organisation
• The best stories end with big positive change as a result of that support (e.g. We’re no longer living on the street, so now I don’t have to worry about how I’ll feed my kids)

It’s also really important to make it clear to your frontline workers that you’re providing guidelines, rather than being prescriptive. That you understand it’s not always possible for every story to check every box on your list… but that their having a very clear understanding of what you’re hoping for will help them whittle down their choices of what to suggest to you, should they have multiple options on the list.

The ideal outcome is that they provide you a selection of suitable stories to choose from. That way, if someone on their list doesn’t want to speak to you, you already have possible alternatives selected.

3. Plan room in your schedule

Once the people you want to speak to have agreed to be interviewed, you can start planning your collection day(s). Here are a couple of tips…

• Allocate 1.5 hours for each interview. Respect your interviewees with enough time and space so you’re not rushing them through their story.
• Plan MORE margin. Give yourself another 15 minutes between each interview to allow for technical difficulties, people running late and loo breaks.
• Be kind to yourself. Holding these stories can often take an emotional toll… so don’t cram too much into one day. Knowing your own limits means you can care for those generously sharing their stories with you as they deserve.

4. Prepare your interview questions

Once your interviews are booked in, get your frontline workers to provide short summaries for each selected story to help you prepare your questions.

Download Creagivity’s FREE Interview Tip Sheet to help you with your planning.

5. Sweat the small stuff

Once you’ve worked through the big stuff, here are a few more things to think about that can help you run the day more smoothly…

• Book a briefing meeting with any frontline workers (for instance, case workers) who are required to be present in your interview. This will give them a chance to ask any questions and for you to manage expectations if necessary.
• Prepare a list of interviewee phone numbers to have with you on the day. That way if someone is running late, you won’t have to ring around in a panic to find out how to contact them.
• Put together sample packs of past appeals, landing pages, eDMs etc. to provide your interviewees an idea of how their story might be used. This will assist with your informed consent conversations on the day.
• If you can, schedule all your interviews at one location. This will help you to maximise your time. Consider hiring a space or reimbursing travel costs for interviewees if needed.
• Make sure the interview space you book is private, quiet and comfortable.
• Plan to record your interviews for transcription. You won’t capture the detail you need, simply by taking notes. Test your recording process before the day to ensure it will work.
• In addition to story, will you also need photos? If the answer is yes, is this something that you’ll need to make time for on the day, or can you organise a photoshoot after the fact?
• I have known charities to provide a token of thanks to interviewees, e.g., a small food voucher, a meal etc. Consider whether this is something you’d like to do for your interviewees who are so generously sharing their stories.
• For some, reflecting on their story can bring up unexpected emotions. So another thing you might like to do is provide a debriefing session with a counsellor or chaplain for your interviewees. Or have a case worker check in during the following weeks.

6. Remember, on the day…

You’ve spent a lot of time in preparation, so I know that it can be stressful when things don’t go to plan. But remember, it’s a very generous thing to trust someone – especially a stranger – with your story.

The most important thing is that you always prioritise caring for your interviewees through this process.

If you’re interested in trying batch story collection in 2025, but don’t have the time or capacity to do it yourself, Creagivity would love to help.

Email june@creagivity.com.au to start the conversation.