The charity sector in New Zealand is facing new reporting standards with the gradual adoption of Statement of Service Performance (SSP) in addition to the traditional financial reporting.
RSM New Zealand, an accounting and audit firm with a leadership position in the not-for-profit sector, held a seminar in mid-September to coach management in the skills needed to meet the new requirements, report beyond financials, and optimise the telling of their story.
Insight’s founder and strategist, Mike Tisdall, outlined some key tools to help these organisations structure their thinking, understand their audiences, plan perception shifts, and simplify and clarify their Key Messaging. Using mainly corporate best practice examples, Mike was able to show the audience how storytelling can reach out to both hearts and minds by capturing the soul of the organisation, painting the vision and supporting the big picture with facts and data to indicate progress towards the goals.
Examples from the corporate world included Mercury, Vector, Sanford, Auckland Airport and Ravensdown. But Insight has also been applying these storytelling principles to selected NFPs for a number of years, and shared a series of award winning reports for Stand Children’s Services (previously Children’s Health Camps) to show how the principles can easily make the transition from corporates to charities.
