Success Stories

Capacity Building: Empowering Your Community Through Story

The Michigan Health Endowment Fund supports organizations across Michigan, from grassroots groups addressing local health challenges to large agencies working in every county. From the urban streetscapes of downtown Detroit all the way to the rural corners of the Upper Peninsula, the organization they supports are doing innovative, evidence-based work to improve the health and wellness of Michigan residents. Investing in the long-term sustainability of these organizations is important to the Michigan Health Endowment Fund so they partnered with MemoryFox to provide their community with access to all of our storytelling resources.

Nonprofits Sponsored

30+

Community Stories Collected

500+

Why Invest in Storytelling Resources?

When you invest in capacity building, it is not just about today, it is an investment in the effectiveness and future sustainability of a nonprofit. Put more simply, the practice of capacity building is essentially the embodiment of the timeless parable; “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; show him how to catch fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.”

1. The Challenge:

Storytelling is essential to social good organizations of every size, but limited access to funding creates a barrier for the smaller organizations who would benefit the most from a more streamlined storytelling process.

2. The Solution:

Granting organizations are stepping up to help nonprofits in their community build critical organizational capacities. We partner with grantmakers to provide equitable access to our storytelling resources, so that nonprofits of every size can more effectively collect, organize, and share community-generated content.

3. The Outcome:

Nonprofits that originally struggled to tell their story due to budgetary or bandwidth restraints can now more easily collect, organize, and share the community stories they need to demonstrate their impact, highlight their D,E&I efforts, and inspire action in their communities.

"We are thrilled to partner with MemoryFox to help our grant partners better tell their stories. Those stories highlight the critical work they do in communities across Michigan, and ultimately demonstrate their impact—which is key to their long-term sustainability."

Megan Murphy

Director, Community Health Impact