In celebration of our 2nd #NPCommPix month, we’re profiling some extraordinary participants in our little photo-a-day experiment. These are some nonprofit organizations and pros that are taking on the challenge of posting daily photos to increase storytelling about their nonprofit, cause and supporters.

We did a quick Q&A to learn about their motivations to participate, and of course, we asked about goals and outcomes so you can learn about the benefits of adding photo storytelling to your nonprofit communications toolbox.

Name: Wendy Easter

Title: Program Coordinator

Organization: Haven House Services

Website: www.havenhousenc.org

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/havenhouseservices

Why did you decide to try the photo-a-day challenge? The challenge was presented to me by our CEO and our Resource Development & Volunteer Specialist. It seemed like a fun way to highlight the agency through pictures! I also liked the personal challenge of trying to be creative enough to post a new picture each day!

How many people do you have helping with this project? Our RD & V specialist, Linda, was extremely helpful in coming up with new and creative ideas, but really everyone in the agency assisted in some way. I had to bother a lot of people for their picture!

What did you hope to gain from participating? We were really hopeful that this would increase our Facebook audience as well as draw new interest to our agency.

Did you meet your expectations/goals? Yes! We found that more people responded to our pictures than a regular post or a link. We also saw a jump in the number of people that liked our page. Followers were more likely to comment on our pictures than other posts, leading to more interaction with our audience.

What did you learn about taking a photo-a-day of your nonprofit? I learned that people really love seeing a story through a picture, rather than reading a long post! I think that is why this was so fun! It gave people a break from being asked to donate or give something, instead it allowed them to see what we do and how they help! Sometimes people don’t get to see the direct impact of their donations or their time, this gave them a new look into our agency.

How did you use those photos? Just on social or other purposes? Most of the photos were used on social but we bank all of our pictures in case we need them for other publications, such as our annual report or at functions.

What positive things has happened with your nonprofit’s communications since doing the photo-a-day challenge? I think the most positive impact is drawing new followers. The more people aware of our agency the greater reach we have in the community and surrounding areas!

What would you tell other organizations that want to participate in a photo-a-day challenge? It’s a lot of work, but fun! It is really neat to look back at the month in pictures to see how all the little pieces add up to what we do on a daily basis! Try really hard to post each day, or like me, you’ll have to scramble to catch up!

Any additional feedback, learnings or observations? You will really start to look at your work environment in a new way. It’s easy to see the big picture, the things you walk by every day, but it’s a lot more difficult to look at 31 snapshots and see the bigger view!