Yesterday, in the midst of the inauguration celebrations, National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman shared a powerful poem that immediately went viral in every way possible — for very good reason. (If you haven’t watched or read it yet, go do so right now.)
Watching this young poet recite this unifying and challenging piece reminded us of something we believe to our bones: Words matter.
The way we tell stories matters.
The narratives we share, the vocabulary we choose, our willingness to speak honestly and with candor — it all matters.
And while we might not be taking the stage in front of presidents or sitting across from Anderson Cooper for an interview or gaining 1.7 million Instagram followers in 12 hours, we still have the honor and responsibility of using our voices in the same way Amanda did yesterday.
We get to call out oppression and injustice. We get to inform our neighbors about the catastrophes that don’t get air time; the ones that feel too far away to notice. We get to inspire and encourage and motivate and challenge.
Fundraising, at its core, is just storytelling.
It’s sharing the story of the problem at hand — then writing your donors right into the narrative. Advocacy is storytelling. It’s elevating the voices of those who have been silenced. Marketing is absolutely storytelling. It’s sharing a vision of how things could be — and what it will take to get there.
So friends, use your words. Use them powerfully, compellingly, artfully, beautifully. If you’re lucky, someone might be listening.
The new dawn blooms as we free it
For there is always light,
if only we’re brave enough to see it
If only we’re brave enough to be it
— The Hill We Climb, Amanda Gorman
