Matt Mahmood-Ogston

Multi-award-winning Social Impact Storyteller, Photographer and Charity CEO

#37: The story that brings the wrong funding

Sep 24, 2026

•

11 min read

#37: The story that brings the wrong funding

Did anyone actually choose that split? It isn't your finance team's doing. The one paragraph in your storytelling that changes what a funder thinks they're investing in.

Matt Mahmood-Ogston

#36: You cut it down. You didn't adapt it.

Sep 17, 2026

•

12 min read

#36: You cut it down. You didn't adapt it.

Does your story sound the same everywhere you put it? What each channel quietly takes away from you, and what has to carry the weight instead.

Matt Mahmood-Ogston

#35: Who owns the story you just told?

Sep 10, 2026

•

12 min read

#35: Who owns the story you just told?

Who actually holds the copyright in the pictures on your website, and what did the invoice buy? The four questions to run on anything you publish.

Matt Mahmood-Ogston

#34: Hand them the camera

Aug 27, 2026

•

10 min read

#34: Hand them the camera

Whose words are they by the time you publish? Five ways to hand the telling over, and the one page brief you give somebody when you put the camera in their hands.

Matt Mahmood-Ogston

#33: You published into an empty room

Aug 20, 2026

•

10 min read

#33: You published into an empty room

Was the impact film you made the problem, or was there nobody in the room who could act on it? Four checks to run before you make the next one, not after.

Matt Mahmood-Ogston

#32: The footage on your phone

Aug 13, 2026

•

9 min read

#32: The footage on your phone

Do you actually need more content, or do you need to find what already happened? A three-sweep audit you can run in an afternoon, with no budget and no new platform.

Matt Mahmood-Ogston

#31: The consent that expires

Aug 6, 2026

•

10 min read

#31: The consent that expires

When did you last check that the people in your older website photos are still happy to be there? Consent has a half-life. Here is the five-step review almost nobody runs.

Matt Mahmood-Ogston

#30: The moment it became impossible not to act

Jul 30, 2026

•

7 min read

#30: The moment it became impossible not to act

How do you tell the story of how your charity began? Most do it one of two wrong ways. Here's the better way, and the one action social impact leaders can take to support it.

Matt Mahmood-Ogston

#29: You don't need an organisation to change the world

Jul 23, 2026

•

7 min read

#29: You don't need an organisation to change the world

How changemakers tell their story with safety, agency and ownership. From a workshop I co-delivered this week.

Matt Mahmood-Ogston

#28: You told them everything. They remember nothing.

Jul 16, 2026

•

6 min read

#28: You told them everything. They remember nothing.

The Social Impact Storyteller

Matt Mahmood-Ogston

Jul 9, 2026

•

7 min read

#27: The rainbow logo that changed nothing

The Social Impact Storyteller

Matt Mahmood-Ogston

trauma

+1

#26: Trauma-informed storytelling. The tear you were hoping for.

Jul 2, 2026

•

8 min read

#26: Trauma-informed storytelling. The tear you were hoping for.

The Social Impact Storyteller

Matt Mahmood-Ogston

#25: Should you say it out loud?

Jun 25, 2026

•

8 min read

#25: Should you say it out loud?

The Social Impact Storyteller

Matt Mahmood-Ogston

#24: Your silence has a cost too

Jun 18, 2026

•

13 min read

#24: Your silence has a cost too

The Social Impact Storyteller

Matt Mahmood-Ogston

#23: How to make the algorithm pick you. The playbook for posting with purpose (Part 2 of 2).

Jun 11, 2026

•

9 min read

#23: How to make the algorithm pick you. The playbook for posting with purpose (Part 2 of 2).

The Social Impact Storyteller

Matt Mahmood-Ogston

#22: The algorithm picked your story for you. Here's the remedy (Part 1 of 2).

Jun 4, 2026

•

6 min read

#22: The algorithm picked your story for you. Here's the remedy (Part 1 of 2).

The Social Impact Storyteller

Matt Mahmood-Ogston

#21: Your social impact story has one job too many

May 28, 2026

•

9 min read

#21: Your social impact story has one job too many

The Social Impact Storyteller

Matt Mahmood-Ogston

#20: Five questions you keep asking. Each one answered.

May 21, 2026

•

6 min read

#20: Five questions you keep asking. Each one answered.

The Social Impact Storyteller

Matt Mahmood-Ogston

#19: Your permission to post isn't coming. So here's what to do instead.

May 14, 2026

•

13 min read

#19: Your permission to post isn't coming. So here's what to do instead.

The Social Impact Storyteller

Matt Mahmood-Ogston

#18: When the hate is personal

May 7, 2026

•

10 min read

#18: When the hate is personal

The Social Impact Storyteller

Matt Mahmood-Ogston

#17: Halfway through, you lost the reader. Here's how to get them back.

Apr 30, 2026

•

10 min read

#17: Halfway through, you lost the reader. Here's how to get them back.

The Social Impact Storyteller

Matt Mahmood-Ogston

#16: When naming them would cause them harm

Apr 23, 2026

•

10 min read

#16: When naming them would cause them harm

The Social Impact Storyteller

Matt Mahmood-Ogston

#15: Your big press hit changed nothing. Here is why.

Apr 16, 2026

•

11 min read

#15: Your big press hit changed nothing. Here is why.

The Social Impact Storyteller

Matt Mahmood-Ogston

#14: Your photo library is full of evidence that proves nothing. Here's how to fix that.

Apr 9, 2026

•

17 min read

#14: Your photo library is full of evidence that proves nothing. Here's how to fix that.

The Social Impact Storyteller

Matt Mahmood-Ogston

#13: The moment your content calendar missed

Apr 2, 2026

•

13 min read

#13: The moment your content calendar missed

The Social Impact Storyteller

Matt Mahmood-Ogston

You already have the stories

Every Thursday I'll send you one way to tell them better. It's free, and it takes five minutes to read.

The Social Impact Storyteller

The Social Impact Storyteller
The free weekly newsletter for charities and social impact teams. One storytelling idea every Thursday, with a template and an Al prompt you can use the same morning. Written by Matt Mahmood-Ogston, a charity CEO who's spent 32 years telling these stories with a camera.

Quick Links

Hire a Social Impact Storyteller

Social Impact Storytelling Framework

Subscription

Update Password

© 2026 Matt Mahmood-Ogston.

Powered by beehiiv