One Story, Two Audiences: How to Segment Your Messaging for Funders vs. Donors
- Pia Grace Torres-Kmetz
- Jun 5
- 3 min read
Your nonprofit has a powerful story — but are you telling it the same way to everyone?
If your grant proposals and donor appeals sound exactly alike, it might be time to rethink your approach. While both funders and donors care about your mission, they’re looking for different types of information, language, and emotional connection.
Segmenting your messaging doesn’t mean telling two different stories; it means adjusting how you frame, emphasize, and deliver your impact to meet each audience where they are.
Here’s how to do it – and why it matters.
Why segmenting your story matters
Just like you segment your donor list or tailor your programs to your community, your storytelling deserves the same level of intentionality. Funders and donors may both support your mission, but they come to the table with different motivations, expectations, and decision-making processes.
Segmented storytelling leads to:
More compelling grant proposals for funders
More emotionally resonant donor communications
Clearer, more strategic messaging across your organization
Stronger relationships built on understanding and trust
What funders want to hear
Funders — especially institutional or government funders — are typically focused on outcomes, accountability, and alignment. They’re looking for:
Data-backed results
Programmatic structure and scale
Systems for tracking impact
Alignment with their own funding priorities
Long-term sustainability
When you’re writing for funders, your storytelling should reflect strategic clarity and outcome-focused narratives with quantifiable impact.
Funders want to know: “Is this program effective, scalable, and well-managed?”
What donors want to hear
Individual donors, on the other hand, are driven by emotion, connection, and shared values. They’re supporting you because they believe in the change you’re creating — not because of a logic model.
What they respond to:
Personal stories and testimonials
Visual storytelling and human-centered messaging
Clear connection between their gift and real-life change
Your donor-facing content should reflect:
Passion and authenticity
Human stories over statistics
A sense of urgency and meaning
A clear invitation to be part of something bigger
Donors want to know: “Does this make me feel something — and can I help?”
How to segment your messaging without starting from scratch
Here’s how to adjust your messaging depending on the audience, using the same story foundation:
Funders | Donors | |
Tone | Strategic, objective, professional | Warm, personal, emotional |
Focus | Outcomes, scalability, evaluation | Human impact, transformation, urgency |
Data Use | Quantitative (metrics, trends, benchmarks) | Qualitative (quotes, testimonials, moments) |
Voice | Organizational, team-based (e.g. “The [Nonprofit Name] team raised…”) | First-person or community-centered (e.g. “We raised…” or “You helped raise…”) |
Call-to-Action | Partnership, investment, long-term goals | Make a difference today, join the mission |
How to apply this across your communications
Your mission should feel consistent, but how you communicate it should shift based on the audience. Think of it like a conversation: you might describe your work one way to a colleague, another way to your board, and another way to a friend. It’s all true — just tailored.
Knowing how to shift your messaging is one thing — knowing where to apply it is another.
Different channels require different tones, priorities, and formats — and a smart strategy ensures you’re always speaking to the right audience in the right way. Here’s how to tailor your messaging across just a few of your core communication channels:
Grant proposals
Audience: Funders
Use clear, structured, and outcome-driven messaging. Funders want to see alignment, measurable results, and a sustainability plan.
Lead with:
Program goals
Impact data and evaluation methods
Alignment with funder priorities
Organizational capacity
Social media
Audience: Donors (as well as program participants, volunteers, and employees)
Keep it personal, visual, and emotionally resonant. Social media is where your community builds emotional connection with your mission.
Lead with:
Impact stories
Client testimonials
Behind-the-scenes content
Calls to action (donate, volunteer, attend)
Email marketing
Audience: Funders & donors (as well as program participants, volunteers, and employees)
Segment your list so you can tailor content based on who’s reading.
Lead with:
Relevant subject lines
Targeted CTAs
A balance of story and strategy
Annual report
Audience: Mixed (donors, funders, partners)
Your annual report should balance heart and evidence. It’s one of the few places where story and structure blend well together.
Lead with:
Program highlights and outcomes
Financials and metrics
Personal stories and impact spotlights
A letter from leadership
Final thoughts
This guide isn’t a plug-and-play template of what you should post where, but rather act as a starting point on the primary messaging we recommend you share based on your primary audiences.
By understanding how different audiences engage with different channels, you’ll be able to deliver a message that’s not only consistent — but also strategic and compelling wherever it’s shared.
Need help shaping your messaging for the right audiences? Scribe offers impact storytelling for nonprofits, grant proposal development, nonprofit fundraising consulting, and more to help you communicate with clarity, confidence, and connection.
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