Guidelines for a PIA story

Here is what a Philanthropy in Action story has to do, and how it is written.

Organized philanthropies such as grantmaking foundations have a major impact on their communities, yet that impact is not well known. Shared one at a time, foundation stories are lost in the daily media noise; collected in one place, they show what organized giving achieves. Every theme is welcome: the categories on the home page grow as stories are added.

The bare essentials

A good contribution is comprehensive, data-driven and interesting. It tells the story of the impact of a foundation, donor-advised fund or corporate giving program, in one community or across the country.

Many funders already tell their grantees’ stories. These go further: they focus on the funder–grantee relationship and show how the result would not have been the same without that particular funder. The focus is on grantmaking foundations, whose primary role is to make grants.

Every story published here aims for:

• A compelling story and high-quality writing.
• The Philanthropy in Action tone: casual yet helpful, without buzzwords or jargon.
• Proper attribution of data, quotations and outside sources.
• No more than one link to the funder’s own website in the body.
• Between 800 and 1,500 words.

What is never published

• Anything offensive or inaccurate.
• Anything overly critical of individuals or companies.

How a story is built

Most stories follow the same arc: the situation the funder found, the decision it made, the partners it brought in, what changed, and the lessons it would pass on to other grantmakers. A single strong quotation from the people involved often carries more than a page of description, and a figure — dollars, participants, years — anchors each claim.

See the three things every story has, or start with an example.