This event took place on Wednesday, December 6th, 2023.

“What do I do if the people we serve have sensitive stories that they might not want to share?“
“Is it ethical to ask our community to share their traumatic experiences just so we can raise funds?“
“How do I tell impactful stories that engage my audience, while doing no harm to my community?“
“How do I make our beneficiaries the hero of their own stories?“

As a nonprofit professional trying to solve the world’s biggest problems, you might find yourself asking questions like these. The last thing you want to do is to make your community feel exploited or re-traumatized by telling their stories to raise more funds for your organization. 

But at the same time, studies show that fundraising campaigns that include video raise an average of 114% more funds. The philanthropic community is craving authentic stories that will help inform their donation decisions.

You’re in a tough spot. We hear you, and we know these are not easy questions to navigate. Join us for a MemoryFox Special Event on Wednesday, December 6th, led by MemoryFox’s Chris Miano, to discuss strategies to overcome tough questions like these with our expert panelists:

• Maria Bryan, Founder of Maria Bryan Creative
• Michael Kass, CEO of Story & Spirit
• Caliopy Glaros, Founder of Philanthropy Without Borders
• Diana Farias Heinrich, Habrá Marketing

Our guests have a plethora of varied experience and knowledge about these challenging topics, and they are ready to share their strategies and insights with you. Learn more about our experts below.

We want you to lead the way! Please submit your questions regarding trauma-informed storytelling, ethical considerations, privacy & consent so we can ask our expert panelists live, and get the answers you are craving.

About the Panelists:

Maria Bryan is a trauma-informed storytelling trainer and the Founder of Maria Bryan Creative. She helps nonprofit leaders tell powerful and impactful stories that do no harm. Maria has over fifteen years in marketing communications in the public sector. She has a master’s degree in public administration, a bachelor’s degree in journalism, and is professionally certified in trauma & resilience and somatic embodiment & regulation.

Maria has been featured on The Nonprofit Show, Community Boost Nonprofit Marketing Summit, Network for Good, Candid, We Are For Good, Personify, Driven, and the Storytelling Lab.

She’s fiercely committed to equipping nonprofits with the quality training, tools,  resources, and 1:1 support needed to thrive as change agents. Because making the world a better place doesn’t have to be so hard.

Michael Kass is the CEO of Story & Spirit. He is an international facilitator, consultant, and healer who works with organizations and individuals to weave a new story that brings us into greater connection with ourselves, each other, and the wider world.

Witnessing the power of story, deep presence, and a simple breath to facilitate transformation, he has developed a unique approach that brings together elements from coaching, a decade-plus of breathwork facilitation, storytelling, and earth-based practices to support his clients in stepping into a more aligned, vibrant, and vital future.

Michael is an ICF Certified Executive Coach, Certified Breathwork Facilitator, has completed Trauma Informed Heartmath Facilitation Training and Integrative Somatic Trauma Therapy Training with the Embody Lab. He is the co-author of the Hollywood Homeless Youth Parthership’s Ethical Storytelling Whitepaper and serves on the Advisory Council for the International Dignified Storytelling Project.

Caliopy Glaros is the Founder and CEO at Philanthropy without Borders, a consulting firm that helps nonprofits clarify their priorities, tell powerful stories, and raise more money so they can continue to tackle the world’s toughest problems. Her expertise in ethical storytelling is informed by experience as a front-line fundraiser, intercultural trainer, and former recipient of nonprofit services. She has worked in nearly 40 countries around the world and has delivered workshops on ethical storytelling to small volunteer-run organizations as well as large multi-national charities.  Caliopy has an academic background in Anthropology and Adult Learning, and is a certified trainer in Intercultural Communication.

Diana Farias Heinrich is CEO/Creative Director at Habrá Marketing. In 2016, Diana Farias Heinrich (she/her) quit her e-commerce project management job to go to Ghana and help women in a rural village start a sustainable, clean water business. She adopted a new mantra after this experience that changed the trajectory of her life: There is so much left to do.

After Diana’s nonprofit communications role was cut during the pandemic, she knew much was left to do to support nonprofits and that was the beginning of Habrá Marketing.

Habrá Marketing provides communications, marketing, and storytelling services for nonprofits. Nonprofits face budget and resource constraints in the critical area of communications and too often it’s left up to overburdened Executive Directors and Development Directors. Habrá alleviates that struggle with “done-for-you” marketing, communications, and storytelling services. Diana and her team take care of telling the world the incredible things their clients are doing and letting them get back to doing what they do best – changing lives and making the world a better place.