738. The Storytelling Strategy That Turns Donors into Believers (And How to Build It) — Max Kringen and Annie Wood, Tellwell Story Co.

Innovation

Sep 7

Written By Jon McCoy

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About This Episode

The film ended and the room went silent. Then it roared. Over the next three years, hundreds of donors gave more than $300,000 to build one young woman a home of her own.

That's what belief looks like when it shows up. Max Kringen and Annie Wood of Tellwell Story Co. have spent years studying how it gets built — and it isn't luck, and it isn't a bigger ask. 🩵

In this episode, you'll hear:

Why a muddy story keeps donors stuck in transaction mode — and how confusion becomes a tax on every dollar you raise
The Story Seasons framework: introduce, educate, engage, remind — the rhythm that moves someone from curious to committed across a year
Why most organizations stall in "engage" and skip the season that actually builds reciprocity
The input nobody plans for: your story listening strategy, and how to empower frontline staff to collect what matters
How Tellwell engineered belonging into the Well Told Conference, down to the name tags

You'll walk away with a build sequence for turning one-time givers into people who say I want to be part of this. 🩵

Episode Highlights:

(3:31) Three friends, one bar, and a studio built on listening
(4:54) Annie's path from startup ecosystems to Tellwell
(7:21) Belief over transactions: what unclear stories really cost
(9:24) The build: introduce, educate, engage, remind
(13:14) What it looks like when a leader finally has the word
(17:26) Designing belonging: shielded vulnerability and place-and-replace
(21:37) Making ethical storytelling practical, not academic
(22:51) Story listening: the strategy before the strategy
(25:33) Belief in the room: Ella's painting and Lizzie's home
(30:34) One Good Thing

Episode Transcript

Meet Max and Annie: The Storytellers Who Listen First

Max Kringen is the founder and chief storyteller at Tellwell Story Co., a Fargo studio making documentary impact films and brand strategy for nonprofits, higher ed, and mission-driven organizations. He's the author of Seasons of Story. Annie Wood is Tellwell's chief of staff, and the architect behind the Well Told Conference — a room designed so no one walks in feeling like a stranger. Tellwell started with three friends venting in a Moorhead bar about agencies that told a lot and listened very little. Max still writes his weekly Start with Story email on Sunday mornings, dog Kevin on one side, coffee on the other.

Powerful Quotes

"When you bring the humans into the story and you let them share their experience, people respond, and people say, 'I want to be part of helping make that be the reality for someone else.'" — Annie

"Remind is very simply: we have to remind people that we love them, so that way they remember that they love us too." — Max

"When your story is muddy, what you're doing is you're asking donors to do the translation work for you, and frankly, they're not going to do it." — Max

"Confusion is really like almost a tax on every dollar that you want to raise." — Max

"Unclear stories really cost you gifts that you never knew that you lost." — Max

"When we're trying to be everything to everyone, no one can see themselves in the story." — Annie

"We're not gonna say congrats, you graduated. Also, money, please." — Annie

"The most important trait of a storyteller is to be able to listen, and to be listening for stories." — Max

"Instead of what is your storytelling strategy — what's your story listening strategy?" — Max

"We've never had a story get stopped at the last moment, and it's because we've started with listening." — Max

"They know the why. They just feel like they have a gap in being confident that they're doing it in the way that they intend to." — Annie

"If your purpose only works when you're in the room, maybe you don't have a purpose. You just have a personality, and a personality doesn't scale." — Max

"Is it right for the people that I'm serving, the people that I'm aiming to serve?" — Annie

Resources Mentioned

Tellwell Story Co.: Fargo-based studio making documentary impact films, brand strategy, design, and websites for nonprofits, higher ed, and mission-driven organizations
Seasons of Story: Max Kringen's book unpacking the four-season storytelling build
Well Told Conference: Tellwell's one-day gathering for nonprofit leaders in Fargo
Impact Up: Tellwell-hosted community gathering in Fargo
Start with Story: Max's weekly email
CCRI (Moorhead, MN): the organization that built Lizzie's home; subject of Tellwell's impact film
Ronald McDonald House / Sweetheart Ball: where Annie witnessed Ella's painting sell at auction
Hope Blooms: service project partner at Well Told, sending bouquets to assisted living communities and nursing homes
Lizzie's story — Tellwell's impact film for CCRI — the film Max describes: the room went silent, then roared.
Ella's painting — the 8x10 from the Sweetheart Ball silent auction.