Last week's poll confirmed what I see constantly in my work: time, starting point, and budget are the main barriers to better storytelling. Specifically, people struggle to find time, don't know where to begin, and worry about affording decent photography or video.

Here's what's interesting - two of these three are solved by the frameworks I'm sharing in this newsletter. You don't need more time if you're more strategic. You don't need to wonder where to start if you have a clear End Vision.

Last week, we talked about starting with your Emotional Destination - the feeling you want to create and the action you want people to take.

This week, we go deeper.

Before you choose which stories to tell, before you collect case studies or commission photography, you need to answer one question:

What does success actually look like?

Not how many people you helped. Not how many sessions you delivered.

What specific change are you working toward?

Most organisations can't answer this clearly. And it's costing them funding.

Funders are making harder decisions than ever. Government grants have declined by around £1 billion annually since 2020. Four million fewer people are giving regularly compared to 2019.

When resources are scarce, funders don't fund activity. They fund change.

If you can't paint a clear picture of what success looks like, you're competing with organisations who can.

Your impact data means nothing without a vision of what that impact is building toward.

I see this pattern constantly, both as a charity CEO and in the organisations I work with.

Someone asks what success looks like. The response is a list of outputs.

"We delivered 500 workshops."

"We supported 300 families."

"We reached 10,000 people through our campaign."

These aren't visions of success. They're descriptions of busyness.

The question isn't how many people you reached. It's what those people becoming means for the community, the system, the future.

Without that clarity, your stories have nowhere to go. You're documenting activity, not transformation.

When I founded Naz and Matt Foundation after I lost my fiancé to religious homophobia and honour-based abuse, we could have measured our success in sessions delivered or resources downloaded.

Instead, we defined our End Vision: A world where LGBTQI+ people from religious and culturally conservative backgrounds can live safely, and without fear of family rejection.

Everything we do points toward that version of the world. Every story we tell, every image we share, every campaign we run asks: does this move us closer to that vision?

That clarity transforms how you tell stories.

You're not just showing what you did. You're showing what's becoming possible.

Before you plan your next impact story, funding application, or annual report, complete this sentence:

Our work is successful when [specific group] can [specific action] without [specific barrier].

This is your End Vision. It's the North Star for every storytelling decision you make.

If a story doesn't connect to this vision, it's probably the wrong story to tell.

Because you cannot afford to waste resources on stories that don't land.

Because funders want to invest in change, not activity.

Because if you can't articulate what you're building toward, someone else will define it for you. Or worse, they'll assume you don't know.

The organisations that survive this funding crisis will be the ones who can show, clearly and compellingly, what success looks like. Not just what they're doing, but what they're making possible.

Once you know your Emotional Destination from last week, use the following framework to define the specific change you're working toward.

Your End Vision operates at three levels. All three matter. All three need to be observable.

This is the most immediate change.

Ask yourself:

Be specific. "More confident" isn't an End Vision. "Able to challenge discrimination at work" is.

This is about shifting culture, policy, or practice.

Ask yourself:

Example: It's not enough that one young person comes out safely. Success is when schools proactively support LGBTQI+ students before crisis hits.

This is where you get concrete.

Ask yourself:

This isn't about targets. It's about proof that the change is real.

Individual change creates demand for system change, which creates conditions for more individual change.

When LGBTQI+ young people access support before crisis point (individual), families start seeking education proactively (system), which means more young people can come out safely (individual).

Your End Vision should show this connection clearly.

When you tell stories, you're not just documenting individual transformation. You're showing how individual transformation drives systemic change.

Before writing your next funding bid, impact report, or campaign brief, copy this template into your notes app and complete it.

The power of this format is clarity. You can use this statement in funding applications, team meetings, stakeholder presentations, and story briefs.

When everyone knows what success looks like, every story becomes more focused.

To help you complete your template, here is an example based on my charity:

ORGANISATION: Naz and Matt Foundation

END VISION STATEMENT:

Our work is successful when LGBTQI+ young people can come out to their religious or culturally conservative families without fear of violence or rejection.

EVIDENCE OF SUCCESS:

Individual level:

We'll see young people accessing support before crisis point

We'll hear "I told my parents and they listened"

We'll measure reduced emergency interventions

System level:

We'll see religious and culturally conservative parents publicly accepting their LGBTQI+ children

We'll hear from families seeking education proactively, not reactively

We'll measure positive changes in schools and conservative communities

WHY THIS MATTERS:

This vision connects to dramatically reduced suicide rates in LGBTQI+ youth because family acceptance is the strongest protective factor against self-harm and suicide.

CURRENT GAPS:

Right now, LGBTQI+ young people cannot come out safely because family rejection, driven by religious and cultural beliefs, creates immediate danger. The cost of this is isolation, mental health crisis, and preventable deaths. Without change, another generation grows up choosing between authenticity and safety.

Copy the prompt below, edit the placeholders, and paste into Claude, ChatGPT, or Gemini.

Note: To get the best results, first download my Social Impact Storytelling Framework, then upload the file along with the following prompt.

AI PROMPT:

Use the output to guide your storytelling strategy for the next quarter.

* Poll results will be shared in next Thursday’s edition.

If you enjoyed reading this newsletter and found it useful, please forward this email on to your colleague and ask them to subscribe here: https://www.impactstoryteller.org/

Until next week, sending you safe and peaceful energy

Matt Mahmood-Ogston
Award-winning impact storyteller, photographer and charity CEO.