Mini-Labs

“El viaje más caro/The Most Costly Journey” represents a collaborative mental health outreach effort to provide Spanish-speaking migrant dairy workers a set of resources they can use to find help when dealing with mental health issues. Using the medium of comics, we partner with individual dairy workers and share their stories of moving to and working in Vermont, as drawn by cartoonists with connections to the region.

The Vermont Farm to School Network is documenting the educational value of farm to school to influence decision makers. When a literature review came up with minimal findings, the Network launched a story gathering project to collect stories of impact from schools across the state.

Whether you’re at a big event or with a subject one-on-one, there are several simple things you can do to improve what you capture on your smartphone. Learn some helpful pointers from Angela Evancie of Vermont Public Radio.

Short and sweet? Long and thoughtful? Make it in-house? Hire a consultant? YouTube? Vimeo? Facebook? Engage in a conversation about the pros and cons of creating and using video stories for your organization.

Stories aren’t a stopping point; instead, they can be powerful tools to identify common community values, help groups make decisions, and spark actions and change.

How to tell a powerful story of your nonprofit without “glittering generalities.” Let the facts speak powerfully.

Interested in telling a place-based narrative? Learn the basics of creating and sharing a digital story map using free online software and apps.

A good interview is a trusting exchange. It is also like digging for treasure. It takes some preparation and the rewards are rich. But it’s not as simple as it seems to shape questions to get at the stories you’re looking for.

We at Vermont Works for Women have been experimenting with infographics of various kinds - to communicate our programs and outcomes more effectively to funders and supporters. We will dissect a few recent infographics we have produced and discuss what worked and what didn't work.

Got lackluster bullet points and terrible PowerPoints? Learn how to transform them into powerful and compelling presentations using stories, images and narrative.

Grant proposals should appeal to both the head and heart of the reader. Learn how the Vermont Community Foundation uses stories to connect with the philanthropists with whom we work. See examples of stories that brought a project to life for the grant reader or made a compelling case for the impact of a project.

Join Vermont Folklife Center researcher and documentarian, Ned Castle, for a conversation exploring how the VFC staff approach issues relating to power and ethics when documenting and/or undertaking storytelling projects with individuals and communities.

Remember that amazing story someone once told that perfectly encapsulated the meaning of life? Neither do I. Learn some tricks for how to keep track of all the stories that best reflect the who, what, when, where, and why of what you (and your organization) do!

Social entrepreneurs can face a huge storytelling challenge when they seek to market a new social good that lies outside of what people commonly understand or experience.

Ned Castle, Vermont Folklife Center researcher and documentarian, shares two case studies of “collaborative storytelling” projects – with specific attention on how these projects, and the process through which they evolved, attempt to address questions of power, representation, and ownership in non-autobiographical storytelling.

Learn 5 fast pointers that will improve your photos and add personality to your organization’s stock library.

Learn how the algorithms behind Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are changing how many people see your content and what you can do about it.