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Last week, we talked about major public events such as protest marches, and I asked you about how you respond and connect it back to your work with your content. You said you:

What this tells us: Half of you are already creating original content when a public moment connects to your work. That is the right instinct.

But here is the question that matters: when you create that content, what do you actually show people?

Because the visual decisions you make in that moment can be the difference between content that builds trust and content that proves you were there. Which is what this week's edition is about.

I have spent the last 32 years learning how to tell stories using photography.

Studying street photography and photojournalism at Bournville School of Art in my teens, and later working at Magnum Photos, one of the oldest and most prestigious photographic cooperatives in the world. Eleven of those years have been spent photographing social impact work through my charity, Naz and Matt Foundation and for other charities and impact teams across the UK.

In that time I have looked through tens of thousands of charity photos. The same pattern appears in almost every one.

Group photos. Activity shots. People smiling at cameras. Staff holding banners. Workshops in progress. Cheque presentations. Team photos at events.

These photos prove one thing: you were there. They prove nothing about what changed.

And here is the problem. When a funder opens your annual report, when a donor scrolls your social media, when a corporate partner visits your website, the photos they see tell them a story before they read a single word. If every image shows what you did rather than what changed, you have already lost them.

The mistake is not that charities take bad photos. The mistake is that they photograph the wrong moments.

Let me show you what I mean with photos from my own portfolio.

This is a group photo of the Naz and Matt Foundation team and volunteers at Pride in London. It is joyful. It is colourful. Everyone is smiling at the camera. The banner is front and centre. It is the kind of photo every charity takes at every event.

It proves we attended Pride. It proves nothing about the lives that changed because of the work we do the other 364 days of the year.

Here is another. A medium shot of a workshop at a Good Ripple Experience social impact event. People sitting around a table, Lego bricks in front of them. A funder sees this and thinks: they ran a workshop. That is the entire story the photo tells.

Both of these are competent, well-composed photographs. And both are completely useless as evidence of impact.

Now look at what happens when you change what you point the camera at.

Same event. Same room. Same workshop. But this time, the camera is close. You can see hands reaching, engaging, building. You do not see a workshop happening. You see people participating in something that matters to them. One photo shows an activity. The other shows engagement. That is the difference one photographic decision makes.

This is a volunteer with NishkamSWAT, a Sikh charity that distributes nutritious meals to thousands of homeless and disadvantaged people across the UK weekly. She is not looking at the camera. She is not smiling. She is in the middle of the work, and the photo catches a moment of quiet focus.

This photo does something a group shot never can. It shows you the human cost and commitment behind the work. You feel something when you look at it. That feeling is what builds trust.

Same charity. A volunteer looking out of a van window at night, between locations. This is what I call a "between moment" - the space between the planned activities, where real life happens. No one stages this. No one asks for it. But it tells you more about what this work actually demands than any posed photo ever could.

I took this during Covid lockdown in Hampstead. A lone figure walking past a shuttered shopfront on an empty high street.

If your organisation works with communities affected by economic decline, isolation, or high street closures, this kind of photo is more powerful than any image of your team delivering a programme. Because it shows the environment your work exists inside. It gives your audience the context they need to understand why your work matters.

Sometimes the most important photo is not of your work at all. It is of the world that makes your work necessary.

Not every charity delivers services in a community centre. Some exist to challenge, protest, and campaign. If your organisation attended the Together Alliance march last month - or any public demonstration - the instinct is to photograph the crowd. The scale. The banners.

But the quiet details tell a stronger story. A single word on a handmade sign. A face in the crowd. The moment between chants when someone is just standing there, holding what they believe.

This photo of a single person holding a HOPE sign at a protest says more about why people show up than a wide shot of half a million marchers.

I took this near Liverpool Street Station as part of a series documenting what happens on London's streets at night, with a particular focus on loneliness and isolation.

Nobody commissioned this. No charity asked for it. But if your organisation works with people experiencing homelessness, mental health difficulties, or isolation, this single image does something your activity photos cannot: it creates a feeling before a single word is read.

That is what documentary photography does. It makes people feel something. And that feeling is the bridge between their world and yours.

Every charity has access to some kind of camera. Most have a smartphone. The equipment is not the problem.

The problem is that most organisations have never thought about what they should be pointing the camera at.

They photograph what is happening. They should be photographing what it feels like.

They photograph the event. They should be photographing the moment between events.

They photograph the team. They should be photographing the person whose life is different because of the team.

Your photo library is a strategic asset. Right now, most of yours is filled with evidence that you exist. That is not enough. Funders need to see evidence that change is happening. And the right photograph, taken at the right moment, communicates that faster than any case study ever could.

Most charity photo libraries are full of Type 1. The organisations that build real trust have all five.

Type 1: The group/event photo Everyone facing camera, banner visible, smiles. Use for: social media, team morale, event reporting. Impact value: low. You already have hundreds of these.

Type 2: The quiet moment An unposed shot of someone in the middle of the work. Not performing for the camera. Shows the human cost and commitment behind the role. Use for: annual reports, funding applications, website headers. Impact value: high.

Type 3: The between moment What happens before, after, or in transit between the planned activities. The corridor conversation. The van journey. The pause before going on stage. Use for: long-form storytelling, documentary content, social media that feels real. Impact value: high.

Type 4: The environment The world your work exists inside. Empty streets, waiting rooms, shuttered shops, queues, the view from a service user's window. No people required. Use for: setting context, annual reports, campaign materials, grant applications. Impact value: high.

Type 5: The detail Hands. A handwritten note. A sign. A closed door. Something small that carries weight because of what it represents. Use for: social media, breaking up text-heavy reports, emotional hooks in presentations. Impact value: medium-high.

How to audit your current library:

Open your organisation's shared photo folder. Sort the last 50 photos into these five types. If more than 80% are Type 1, you have a problem. If you have fewer than 5 photos across Types 2-5, you have a gap that is costing you trust, funding, and engagement.

Before your next event, campaign, or site visit, complete this brief. Give it to whoever is taking photos (even if that person is you).

How to use this AI prompt:

How did this AI help in your organisation? I'd love to hear from you. Just hit reply if you have any questions or would like to share your results.

Most charity teams lose their best stories before they ever get told. A conversation with a beneficiary. A moment from a site visit. A quote that came up in a trustee meeting. None of it captured, none of it usable.

I've created this free Notion template to give you a simple system for capturing impact stories the moment they happen and tracking them through to publication.

Download the free Notion template

Two Spotify playlists I listen to regularly (I'm listening to #1 as I type this) - full of binaural beats and vocal-free tracks chosen to help you get into deep focus and stay there.

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Until next week, sending you safe and peaceful energy

Matt Mahmood-Ogston
Award-winning impact storyteller, photographer and charity CEO.
Portfolio: ogston.com