Visual Eyes

S2E01 - Harnessing Storytelling: Empowering Nonprofits with Juliana Torres Mason

• Visuals by Momo • Season 2 • Episode 1

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Unlock the secrets of powerful storytelling with us as we explore its transformative potential for nonprofits. Join our conversation with Juliana Torres Mason, a specialist in nonprofit storytelling, who shares her expertise on crafting narratives that captivate and connect. Learn how effectively leveraging stories can not only boost your organization's visibility but also secure crucial funding. From websites to social media, we discuss strategic storytelling techniques that engage donors and set your nonprofit apart in the competitive world of grant applications.

Our journey continues as we highlight the importance of collaboration in the nonprofit sector. Intriguing stories from seniors, brought to light by organizations like Heart to Heart and Certified Humane, play a vital role in bridging divides, especially in animal welfare discussions. We also shine a spotlight on child advocacy centers, where storytelling becomes a tool for healing and breaking cycles of trauma. Through these narratives, we showcase the immense power of advocacy and compassion in addressing and overcoming societal challenges.

Concluding with a focus on strategic social media approaches, we address the essential role of genuine partnerships between nonprofits and businesses. We emphasize the importance of aligning social media strategies with organizational goals, ensuring that nonprofits can cut through the noise and make meaningful connections. By creating detailed target personas and refining messaging, nonprofits can stand out and foster deeper engagement with supporters. This episode is a treasure trove of insights for anyone looking to harness the power of storytelling and social media to champion their cause.


Juliana Torres-Mason
https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliana-torres-mason/
Torres-Mason Writing Agency
https://torresmason.com/


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Special Thanks to Stacy Daugherty for the beautiful wall artwork in the background. Socials: @artographybystacy

Chris Baker:

Welcome to Visual Eyes, the podcast where collaboration fuels change. I'm your host, chris Baker, and each week we'll explore incredible connections between nonprofits, businesses and the community. This is a space where we highlight inspiring partnerships, uncover strategies for creating meaningful impact and share stories that show how working together can make all the difference. Whether you're a nonprofit leader, a business owner or someone just passionate about building connections, this podcast is for you. Welcome back to , where we actually explore the collaboration and storytelling efforts to help nonprofits succeed. So what we do is we actually connect for-profit businesses with nonprofits and storytelling efforts to help nonprofits succeed. So what we do is we actually connect for-profit businesses with nonprofits, nonprofits with other nonprofits and so that there is a collaboration. And so that is what we're really all about collaboration and connections and giving them opportunities to explore different ways to work around. So today I have the storyteller herself, juliana Mason Torres. Did I say that?

Juliana Torres-Mason:

right Backwards.

Chris Baker:

Torres Mason. So, yes, welcome to .

Juliana Torres-Mason:

Thank you for having me.

Chris Baker:

Yes, so tell us a little bit more about what you do, who you are and how you are the non-profit storyteller sure.

Juliana Torres-Mason:

So my agency helps non-profits essentially tell their story. We do that through a lot of marketing and we also help them with grant writing as well. So we help them in the space of their website, again, making sure their messaging is very clear and they're telling the right elements of the story online. And then we help them with newsletters, making sure that those stories are going out and are reflecting their mission on a monthly or weekly basis. And then we help them with their social media and help them make sure that they have the right strategy to get the right message in front of the right people. And then, on the grant writing side, we help them actually collect the money to keep doing what they're doing. And a big part of that is storytelling as well, because the way you connect with donors and help people understand your mission is to tell stories about how you impacted the community.

Chris Baker:

One of the most important things that I've noticed right now is me and you are like dominating LinkedIn. I'm trying to help nonprofits understand storytelling Good. I see your posts all the time and I'm like every time I see it. I'm like, yes, that's so valuable, and I have to like, like, comment and share. And like I've been trying to add more of that kind of value to like, hey, here's what you can do in the behind the scenes and here's what you can do even by capturing stuff on your phone right like, make sure that you, what are you trying to give or what are you trying to explain.

Chris Baker:

So it's all about how you tell the story, and writing is a huge component in that. Like you have to have the words to tell the story.

Juliana Torres-Mason:

Right. A lot of times, the first way we can help nonprofits is just by capturing the story to start. A lot of times they have all these people that they're impacting, all these volunteers that are going out in the community and making this amazing difference.

Juliana Torres-Mason:

But, they are not actually remembering to write those stories down, they're not collecting all the details they need to tell that story in a compelling way, and that hurts them on the back end when they go to try to appeal and say, oh, this is what things that we did. Numbers can only do so much as far as really conveying your impact. You can say you gave 25 meals this last week, but what's really impactful is to explain how you helped a family who had no food be able to feed their children like.

Chris Baker:

That's a bigger impact than the number itself oh yeah, I mean statistics can only go so far, like I mean, yes, we all need to know how many people did you support. But but the emotion and the connection that the individual or the community or a business that may donate to the nonprofit when they hear that story, that's what's going to drive them. That number might just be like oh, that's cool.

Juliana Torres-Mason:

Congratulations, yay.

Chris Baker:

And sometimes it's not enough. Right, it depends, like I don't know, you're more familiar with the grant world, but sometimes they need the statistics. But now I know they're asking for a lot of video to showcase. This is what you're doing in the community. How is that impacting non-profits?

Juliana Torres-Mason:

it makes a huge difference. So you have a lot of non-profits that want to go after grants and the essentially the grantors have to make hard decisions about who they are going to actually give this lump of money that they have in their back pockets to hand out, and the way that they do that is who. Who stands out to me most in what we're doing, and the biggest way you can stand out is to tell that story and to show that that impact is actually occurring. That cause that you are wanting to make happen in the community is actually having an effect. And it's hard to do that with just numbers and we collect a lot of numbers for grant writing, of course but it helps if we can also tell a story and show on their websites and show in the social media space how that is happening, so that it's not just a sheet of paper explaining it as well.

Chris Baker:

So one of the things is visibility for nonprofits. It's really hard for the grassroots and the small nonprofits to get that visibility to be out in the community and get those donors and the supporters sponsors, supporters, sponsors how can a video or you know something that's written down especially for grant writing and everything else, how can it benefit them? Like, what is the the reason behind needing to have that story told?

Juliana Torres-Mason:

I think it is just a concept of showing, not telling. You can on your website, you can say we do this, but when you are able to actually show someone that had the problem that you're trying to fix and actually explain how you were able to come alongside that person and help them, a lot of times people that are giving money aren't in the world that people who need the money are in, and it's hard to really get them to understand what the need is and how we're actually making that impact. So that's where stories can really explain that and it just allows you to connect as well. If you're not, on a weekly or monthly at least basis, putting something out to your support supporters, to the people that follow you, to the people that are interested in what you're doing, to show the ways that you're helping, you're just you're going to fall out of the front of their brains, you're just so true, out of the front of their brains.

Chris Baker:

You're just so true, like I mean nowadays. It used to be like you could reach out two or three times and you would be able to go, yeah, I'm interested or yes, you know, that's exactly what I'm willing to help with. Whatever the case may be, now it's like 7, 12 different touches before they even like oh, you exist. It's like you're right if you don't have something that's constantly in front of you, in front of them, they're not there yes and they kind of lose track.

Chris Baker:

Because we have lives, we have things going on, we've got so many more distractions than we did 20 years ago there's a lot of saturation just of content out in the world.

Chris Baker:

So there is um, which can be, can be good, but it's also a problem. Problem, I would say, especially for smaller non-profits. They it's harder for them to keep up with the times because now they have to create social media accounts and they have to add videos and they have to add carousels and reels and all of these different components just to even stay relevant and hopefully get those 7 to 12 touches so that they can get the sponsors, get the donors and everything else. And that's a lot of work, especially for a one person team.

Juliana Torres-Mason:

Right, yeah, it's a lot of work to keep up with that. It's a lot of work for just businesses who realize that that's a component of their activity that needs to happen on a weekly basis. It's a lot for those kind of organizations to do that, much less a nonprofit organization that's already overwhelmed and has way too many responsibilities on one or a handful of people. So that's tricky.

Chris Baker:

So one of my questions that I really want to ask is what inspired your company to get so involved in collaborating with nonprofits?

Juliana Torres-Mason:

I just think that nonprofits are where the community stories happen, and I mean I love telling stories.

Juliana Torres-Mason:

That's where that's just that's my passion. I have a background in journalism and in which I was able to actually tell a lot of the stories from a journalistic standpoint, and it allowed that platform to happen for a lot of non-profits. We ended up profiling them in different ways, but so when I started entering the marketing space and wanting to help businesses stand out, generally speaking, I just always found myself coming back to wanting to tell these more, these. Not that businesses don't have amazing impact stories and stories that explain how they're making a difference, because lots of businesses do but when you talk about community impact and when you talk about how the community is built, a lot of that work is being done by amazing non-profits and I just love being involved in that and allowing them to, giving them that platform to make sure that their their stories are being told.

Chris Baker:

And being heard.

Juliana Torres-Mason:

And being heard. That's a key factor.

Chris Baker:

Yeah, it's a huge factor because you know if they don't have the visibility and they can't get their message out there. They can't get their story out there. Can't get their story out there. They get like we talked about earlier they get lost in the crowd or they get forgotten, right, and that is definitely not what either of us want. That's one of the reasons that we started is we really wanted to showcase the story, because there's a deeper and richer story for the people that are helped by these non-profits and sometimes it's the person that started the non-profit that has the deepest story that's true, because they went through it and they're like I had no help.

Chris Baker:

I need to create something so that I can help others, and it's an you know it's absolutely inspiring and I love one of my nonprofits that actually like resonates with me on that level and she's been a supporter of us and we've been a massive supporter of her since, like day one that we met.

Juliana Torres-Mason:

So it's been fantastic.

Chris Baker:

Can you highlight some of the collaborations that you've experienced with other nonprofits and feel free to name the nonprofits that you've worked with if you feel? And feel free to name the nonprofits that you've worked with If you feel like they're comfortable, sure, be named.

Juliana Torres-Mason:

Well, you and I have a mutual collaborator. What In Heart to Heart?

Chris Baker:

Outreach of South Florida. Yes, heart to Heart Love them. I was just with them all day recently. That's amazing.

Juliana Torres-Mason:

Yes, so I've worked with that organization To help them tell, to capture the ways that their volunteers go out and help seniors in the community and just sitting and talking with them and honestly, one of the favorite things that I was able to do with that organization is just tell the senior stories in the ways that they I mean, you see, some of these seniors had amazing lives and now they have no family or their family's far and they get a little forgotten and so it's very useful to just remind the community that these people exist and that these people are deserving intention and it's fun to sit down and talk with them and listen to all these amazing stories that have happened in their lifetimes it's so interesting that you bring that up and I'm literally just going back in my mind like I remember sitting down with my great grandma and a lot of people don't actually get to meet their great-grandma and she would be telling me these stories when I was a kid and I was just.

Chris Baker:

I'm thinking about that right now and it's interesting how I probably didn't care as much about the stories then, but I wish I had them now. You know what I mean. Like wow, the impact that her generation, what she had to go through, everything that was there, and like those stories are so important. So now we've got all these other seniors out there, like you're saying, they've got amazing stories and they need to be told and they need to be heard. So it's yeah, I love Heart to Heart for that.

Juliana Torres-Mason:

Another organization I work with is called Certified Humane. They are an organization that puts labels on eggs and different food products. That essentially says that the farms and the ranches that these products came from treated their animals humanely, animals humanely. And the tricky part about that organization is helping them tell their story in a way that fits within a wider, the volatile realm of animal rights organizations that have very differing views.

Chris Baker:

I was gonna say, yeah, I could see see a little bit of a struggle there, but okay, yeah, that's a challenge.

Juliana Torres-Mason:

I have very differing views as to what the best way is to care for these farm animals that we use on a daily basis across the world.

Juliana Torres-Mason:

We're talking millions and billions of farm animals a year and it's hard to thread the needle as to how, what exactly, where your stance is, how exactly you need to be speaking out in the world.

Juliana Torres-Mason:

So one of the things we've done with that organization is start telling the stories of these inspectors that go out to these farms and actually are the ones that are interacting with the farmers and the ranchers and just enabling us to showcase their humanity and how much they love the farm animals and are really passionate about making sure that these animals are well cared for.

Juliana Torres-Mason:

That has helped an enormous amount with their supporters, who do want to support them without drawing too much ire from other organizations that might think a little differently about how animal welfare should be happening in the world, and so it allows, it puts the heart behind everything and showcases that, as opposed to getting very technical into all the in and outs of what we do and do not allow and how often, and blah, blah, blah. All these things can get very technical and it's hard to wrap your brain around, but it's easy to wrap your brain around a woman who has loved sitting and just watching cows her entire life and now she gets to do that on a regular basis and be on the front lines of making sure that cows across the world literally are being cared for properly by the farmers and ranchers that want to do right by them. So that's a very that's a different story than yeah, we're.

Chris Baker:

I mean, I I grew up on a very small hobby farm, um, so I I kind of understand a little bit of the farming world, not a ton, but a little bit. But yeah, that actually is very important, like making sure that they're treated well, because I mean, there's a lot of horror movies, if you want to put it that way, that just showcase the exact opposite.

Juliana Torres-Mason:

And I think that's probably where the other non-profits you know started from, because they're like we need to treat these animals with respect and dignity right and it's a and it's a big problem, it's not you know it's not a small problem that all these organizations are trying to fix and you can get in a lot of infighting and politics, but when you just talk about we want to help these animals and we are passionate about trying to make sure this happens, that stands out a lot better and on a positive, even playing field than a lot of the other technical pieces yeah, is there any other non-profits you want to highlight?

Juliana Torres-Mason:

or stories that you would love to share one of my organizations that I help is a child advocacy center, so they they are a organization.

Juliana Torres-Mason:

There's a bunch of child advocacy centers across the nation, but what child advocacy centers do is that is, they are the ones that when a child is a is abused or neglected or witnesses violence in some way. The child advocacy centers are the ones that actually will record the interview. That actually is the forensic interview that actually will then go and the prosecution team can actually use that to prosecute the case, if there's one, or investigate the crime and whatever happened in the incident. Investigate the crime and whatever happened in the incident. And it is difficult, as you might imagine, to get a child to talk about those sorts of things, whatever happened to them, that sort of thing.

Juliana Torres-Mason:

So, child advocacy centers. They create a child-friendly space, they have forensic interviews that are trained to know how to talk to children in a child appropriate age, appropriate way, and it creates a safe space for the families to come do this very you know, forensic, not friendly thing, um, and then allow that, um, that piece of evidence, essentially to be captured.

Juliana Torres-Mason:

And then they don't, that child doesn't have to keep telling the story over and over and over again across the case and it gets captured, recorded really well one time, and then um, and then that's submitted into evidence and they can keep on referring to that one interview, as opposed to essentially re-traumatizing the child over and over again it's so valuable.

Chris Baker:

Yeah, like I'm just thinking of, like kids that have to do go through that. Like why would you want to re-traumatize them? And I understand like you want to like I understand the lawyers, because I worked in a law firm for many years. Like they have to like okay, we've got to prove against this and try to do that, especially if they're on the opposite council, right, and. But when you're dealing with a child that had that much trauma, why do you want to continue?

Chris Baker:

Let them go get the therapy or healing that they need so they can move on instead of bringing that back up. So I love that. That is an amazing organization, wow, okay. That one just yeah, that one is wow, so that organization helps with the forensic interview.

Juliana Torres-Mason:

That's the main thing what they do, but their mission is to really reduce and eliminate the cycle of child abuse in the community, and so a lot of what they do on the back end, after the forensic interview is over, is they provide counseling, they provide family support and family advocacy for the family, and it's all free of charge after as long as they have been through the process and are, you know, as long as they're one of the clients that has come in and done a forensic interview. If all those services are free of charge and it's really amazing to be able to, and with that one in particular, it's a little tricky because we have to always tell stories in an anonymized way.

Chris Baker:

yep nope, uh, yeah, you don't want to bring more light onto? An individual right, especially at that point yeah.

Juliana Torres-Mason:

So it's tricky to capture the story and get the essence of it and really get details that will convey the, the nuances and and the trauma that this child and this family have gone through, without revealing too much about the family that will cause undue harms.

Chris Baker:

Yeah, no, we don't want to cause any harm, that's absolutely no. No, we don't want that, but we're here to help the community not, you know, take back from it. So, oh, wow, okay, that that was amazing all right so one of the next questions what advice would you give to other businesses looking to collaborate with non-profit organizations?

Juliana Torres-Mason:

looking to collaborate with nonprofit organizations. I think that's a good question. I should think about that. The thing I would say, if you are interested in helping a nonprofit, is to not sell them the watered-down version of whatever service that you have. Nonprofits really deserve to have the same level of marketing, the same level of services, the same level of services that put them out front in the community that businesses we accept, that businesses do all the time.

Juliana Torres-Mason:

And so I think it's important if you are going to collaborate with a nonprofit whether you're donating your time or whether you're just selling your time it's important to make sure that you're even if you want to be generous, make sure that you're giving them still a high quality service that is going to serve them well and, you know, help them advance their mission, their mission and be careful of trying to oh, because we're donating our time, we're just going to give them something that maybe isn't the fullness of what you might give it if another organization, if they were paying for it.

Juliana Torres-Mason:

I think that's important and I guess just check, if you're in that space and wanting to provide that service, just kind of do a heart check and see what it is you're after. Are you really looking to support that organization and make sure that they grow, or are you just trying to kind of prop yourself up and make yourself look good in the process? I see a lot of that happening and I think it's important to call that out and to make sure that out and to make sure that and it, if your service is valuable enough to the non-profit, it's okay to have them pay for it and and there are lots of ways that to get funding for different, for different services that non-profits need. So that doesn't necessarily need to be a thing that holds you back from offering the fullness of the service. But yeah, I guess that is kind of encapsulates what I yeah.

Chris Baker:

So one of the things that we've been trying to do is always let the non-profit know hey, you know, for our services we can look at, you know, adding it to a grant. Obviously it's not going to get into our pocket tomorrow right because it takes time like going through the grand process. It's not a quick process. It takes a lot of time.

Chris Baker:

The non-profits know this, but the for the businesses might not right, but if they're willing to put a little bit of time and wait and be patient on it. It's something that may be very fruitful in the long run, but it's not going to happen right away. So it is something that we definitely want to kind of keep that door and that mind open as a for-profit business that there is other ways to do it without 100 just not getting paid for it and donating your time right you know we offer a discount.

Chris Baker:

There's other things that we do to try to help offset costs wherever we can, but in the end of the result, we have to feed ourselves too, so and the non-profit has to feed themselves, so they need to run it. Run their business like a business right so that they can go support their family and their kids and everybody else that is there as well.

Juliana Torres-Mason:

And I would say, the other thing too is to just make sure that you're listening to the non-profit really well, Sometimes there is a difference in almost language spoken between the for-profit and non-profit world and it might take an extra minute to really understand and get yourself in the headspace of what the nonprofit actually needs and how you can come along and help them. A lot of times for profit businesses will say we want to donate this much manpower for a day and we're going to come help and the nonprofit sit down and say I don't know where you what you're going to be doing.

Juliana Torres-Mason:

I don't know how to put 24 people to work for a day, and so just being open to different opportunities and really taking the time to listen to what the nonprofit needs, rather than offering services that may be not the most useful thing that they can use at the time.

Chris Baker:

Well, and also if that's what they can offer, feel free to reach out to me and I'll connect you with the right non-profits to make anything happen or, you know, be the the middle person.

Chris Baker:

Since I am a for-profit but I work with non-profits, I understand both avenues, and that's a little better and also reach out to juliana she'll be able to do it as well. So I think that's very valuable to consider, because that that's something that I you're right, I don't think we listen enough to. What can they use right now. You know, maybe that 24 person, like for one full day, could be useful in a year, but if you're like saying, oh, I can do it next month, you need the right non-profit, that's like, yep, I have the resources. That's exactly what we're looking for to move that needle.

Juliana Torres-Mason:

Um, that quickly, right, and it might be that you know eight three people team over the course of a week is more useful to that nonprofit than having a bunch of people all at one time. Right, you know, it's all about understanding and just taking the time to listen and hear and being open to a difference and maybe what you want to offer versus what they are able to accept and maybe what you want to offer versus what they are able to accept.

Chris Baker:

Well, I think the way that you said that is very valuable, because I could see myself if I was a nonprofit and the company said I'm going to send three people out every single day this week.

Juliana Torres-Mason:

Okay.

Chris Baker:

I can find something to do for three people. That's a lot easier for my head to comprehend. Oh, I'm going to send 24 people out tomorrow for one day, I don't know. My brain kind of just kind of went. I don't know what to do with these, this many people right now, right, um, you know, a few months down the road, maybe that might be a little bit different, I can come up with a plan to come up with an idea, an action that can make an impact.

Chris Baker:

But yeah, I think that that's very, very valuable because now that you have a non-profit thinking but you also have the for-profit that wants to help thinking in a different way and they can come up with a solution. But you're right, they have to listen to each other. Right, like what can I, what can they handle and what can I give? Right in that same capacity. All right, that's actually really good advice. What, what exciting projects or initiatives are you currently working on in the nonprofit space?

Juliana Torres-Mason:

Initiatives. So right now I am helpingprofits with their social media strategy. Okay, so we get very deep into their target persona. We look at other organizations that are working in the same space and we help them define exactly what they need to say to stand out in that space and to get the right messaging to their supporters. And then we help them actually craft the messaging that needs to go on social media, and we do that by dividing out their call to actions.

Juliana Torres-Mason:

So a lot of times when we're on social media we tend to say click here and also donate here, and also, you know, here's some educational information and it's just a lot to expect people to do every single post.

Juliana Torres-Mason:

So one of the ways that we can help is give them a very clear framework about how they can put their messaging out on social media, specifically in different platforms, and that and look at the timing of when they need to be doing that, how frequently, within their own capacity of their team which is important as well and we're able to help them really get stand out on social media, accomplish organizational goals on social media, which is key. A lot of times people you kind of use social media to just be out there and saying whatever and at least they'll see it. But if you're spending a lot of time it takes a lot of time to put together graphics and come up with content and all the things if you're going to take all that time to do that, why not do it in a way that is focused and that is actually targeted towards the goals you have as an organization?

Chris Baker:

it's true it's.

Juliana Torres-Mason:

yeah, we tend to have a blind spot for social media sometimes and, like we all these marketing elements that we normally think about to employ to websites and to our flyers and all those sorts of things, we forget that that also applies to social media, and having a very clear, cohesive strategy as to what you want to be accomplishing on social media is step one to making that an impact and making it worth your time, because nonprofits, as we all know, don't have a lot of time. Worth your time because nonprofits, as we all know, don't have a lot of time, and if you're going to spend even 15 minutes throwing together a social media post, why not have it? Actually push a goal that you want to happen.

Chris Baker:

so I think also, there's so many voices right now and so, like, depending on who you're following on a social media channel, you're getting all of these different recommendations for how to do social or how to do this or how to do that.

Chris Baker:

And one of the biggest things that I've noticed is I try to step back and like, okay, who are they trying to target? So, yeah, they might have popped up in my feed, but who are they trying to target? And then I realized, oh, they're going after this type of a company. Okay, that's not going to help me, so this advice isn't really the best for me and it's taking that step back that really makes the difference to go okay, is this going to be strategic for me to talk about, for me to talk about? And so when I think about that and I think about how we run our businesses specifically, we're looking at the strategy for the non-profit and we need to take a deeper dive. We can't just say, oh, you're a non-profit that does this, sure I can make something for you. It's not going to be that simple, like.

Chris Baker:

Like, when we have to tell a story, we need to dig deeper and we need to understand who's your target audience, and if you say everybody, then I'm going to ask you if your cat is one of your, you know target audience, because that's everybody. Also babies, like. Is babies your target audience? It might be, but I'm pretty sure they're not going to be the ones paying for anything or assisting. So it's very important to think about the target audience much more niche like, it'll still expand.

Chris Baker:

But if you drop a pebble into a water and that's your target niche, all of the ripples are still going to be felt for miles and miles.

Juliana Torres-Mason:

Right.

Chris Baker:

So that niche is still going to ripple out to all the other people that you want to connect with, but if you have it very focused, your message is going to be clearer. Your vision is going to be clearer. Your vision is going to be clearer. Your purpose, your call to action, everything is much more refined, and I know that's something that we do when we talk about strategy is we have to dig deeper and that takes time.

Juliana Torres-Mason:

It's not going to happen overnight no, and the thing that's great about social media is that you do have the full landscape of everybody on social media. So when we create avatars, we get very and by avatar I mean the target persona, the person that we're going to be targeting we get very specific because why not? You're going to find people that fit that very narrow person that you want to target and then you will still capture a wider range. But unless you're speaking to a very specific person, you're not going to speak to anybody at all.

Chris Baker:

That's it's so true factor and I mean I've, I've tossed. When I first started the company, I tossed out whatever and I was like nobody's looking at it, nobody's liking it, nobody's doing anything. Well, who was I talking to? And I, if we look back at it, I wasn't talking to anybody, right I was just talking to the general void.

Chris Baker:

Let's call it, and it was very important for us to take a deeper look and like, okay, who do we really want to help and how do we really want to help them, and that made a huge difference when we actually switched over for our company, so it does make a difference and two.

Juliana Torres-Mason:

So a lot of non-profits are working in the same space that other non-profits are.

Juliana Torres-Mason:

If you have a cancer foundation, for example, there are so many different organizations doing that similar work. So how do you convey your specific mission amidst all this other landscape of conversation that's happening? And so one of the things we do is we look at that landscape. What is the conversation that's happening on social media now and how do you have a strong community value within that conversation that lets you have a voice, so that you're not just saying the same thing that everybody else is or saying something that people aren't resonating with like you can. Actually there's a space for everybody on social media to have a voice and be part of the conversation, and it's really about just charting that space and creating that space for yourself with that very specific target persona, and that really just enables you to take it that much farther and to actually then you don't feel like you have to compete with other organizations that are doing similar things. No, this is our space, this is what we're saying, this is our specific value that we're offering this wide landscape of cancer research.

Juliana Torres-Mason:

And this is how we can make a difference and then people and once they have, once you're able to convey that clearly, then people are going to be able to come alongside that mission and come support that mission. And make make it easy for them to support you is really the key factor it's turn.

Chris Baker:

Yeah, it's turning your mission and your value statement into a story that can resonate. And I totally, I totally see what you're saying because, like, like, yes, there's a lot of nonprofits that help with cancer, either in the research or in therapy or wherever, and you know you're touching on probably thousands, if not tens of thousands, of nonprofits all over the nation. Right, they have a lot of stories and how is yours unique and how is yours different? So what makes you different? The bonus is, if you can actually get your story solidified now, you might have some of those bigger nonprofits going. I want to work with you.

Juliana Torres-Mason:

Yeah, it's a great place for collaboration as well.

Chris Baker:

It's a huge place for collaboration. So now you're opening up doors because now you get access to their grant funding their donors, and now you can make a bigger impact, and it's just because you actually took the time to really dig deep and get your message clear yeah, partnerships are so key on social media.

Juliana Torres-Mason:

If you can, and there's so many different ways that the different platforms offer collaborations these days, too it makes it super easy, and once you have a good partner and a someone that can actually come in and and you have clear, clear values that you each are bringing to the table, then you're able to share each other's audience and expand on each other's audience and grow that, and then it shows people. People don't like to feel like they have to choose between one foundation or one organization or another. They want to feel like they're doing good things without competing. So it's correct social media needs to be a space where you show that that partnership is taking place and that it's happening and how it's happening, so that people are able to come alongside it one.

Chris Baker:

So one of the ideas when I was talking about the collaboration is actually more of a structural space as well, like 100. Social media is a great place to collaborate and like showcase together. But I actually do know of small non-profits being connected with the bigger non-profit and now they've added the bigger non-profits, basically added a pillar of offering, but they let the non-profit hand the smaller non-profit handle it, and so there's that type of collaboration that's available as well.

Chris Baker:

It's not necessarily all about money, but it's visibility right now you've opened up a whole new door that you didn't have access to before, and so those opportunities are insanely valuable, because now, instead of having maybe 200 followers, you have 2 million right, and that's huge. Like I would love that. I want to get there one day. I like it. Yeah, yeah, that's powerful what is one piece of advice that you would like to leave to our audience today?

Juliana Torres-Mason:

so a lot of what I help non-profits and any business do is get very clear about what they want to say and how they want to say it, and I think that's the biggest piece, and sometimes that is, I guess, what I would offer to take the time to sit down and think about what message you're putting out into the world and how that message is going to impact what people. And a lot of times and this happens in for-profit business- 100% yeah.

Juliana Torres-Mason:

As well as nonprofits. They both have this problem where you start doing a thing and you're doing this thing successfully even, but you don't. When you are looking to pivot and expand your reach into a greater community or just be more visible out in the community so you can get more support, it's important to stop for a minute, have a meeting with all the stakeholders and establish that community value that you bring and make sure that that is really clear and that your values alongside that are really clear, before you start making that wider push into and to be more visible.

Juliana Torres-Mason:

It can be harmful even to start throwing anything out into the world before you're clear on what exactly it is you want to say and how you want to say it, and that, I think, is, or it may not even be, harmful, it just might be a waste of time in a sense because again anything that you're putting out in the world to make yourself visible is going to take time and it's going to take resources and it's going to take even just thought and consideration to do, and so it's important to make sure that, if you're going to be spending that time and using those resources, that you're doing it in a targeted way and that you are clear. And really, the other message that I would convey, too, is that that can happen one time. Get very clear. It doesn't. It's not a thing that has to happen every year. It's not a thing that has to happen every year. It does not a thing that has to happen every month.

Juliana Torres-Mason:

The purpose is to what are the least common denominators that make us who we are, and making sure that you know that and are able to communicate that to the stakeholders effectively will allow you to enhance that visibility exponentially, as opposed to just throwing whatever out there. So I think that would be the biggest thing that I would offer as advice is to just be very intentional, take time, and non-profits tend to have 50 million pieces working, but it it makes a difference to stop, do a organizational retreat, whatever you need to do to make sure that that's very clear and then go forward with um, with your visibility and the greater impact that you want to do I I completely agree.

Chris Baker:

I think that that's being clear, concise is very important, because now, now you're talking to whoever you need to talk to and you know what you need to say, and you're having the same message and it's repeatable. Instead of going, I'm going to go over here and do this. I'm going over here and do this. So, yeah, that's very valuable. I love that. So how do people get a hold of you if they want your services?

Juliana Torres-Mason:

Sure, so I am at Torres Mason dot com. There's no hyphen in the title, so you can do Torres Mason dot com.

Chris Baker:

You spell that for him.

Juliana Torres-Mason:

Yes, t-o-r-r-e-s-m-a-s-o-n dot com. You can also find me at the nonprofit storyteller dot com and you can find me on socials at Torres Mason Writing. Pretty much that's my handle everywhere.

Chris Baker:

Perfect.

Juliana Torres-Mason:

And yeah, go ahead and follow me, reach out, and I would love to chat.

Chris Baker:

Do you have a phone number for anybody to call?

Juliana Torres-Mason:

Sure 561-252-5897.

Chris Baker:

Perfect. Well, juliana, thank you so much for being on the show today. I think we had some amazing, valuable nuggets that we got to share. I hope that everybody out there and that's watching us gets to take some of that back and, you know, take a deeper dive, like really dig in. I would love to have you back on the show. Let's definitely do this again. So thank you guys for watching and you guys have a wonderful day.

Juliana Torres-Mason:

Thank you for having me.

Chris Baker:

Thank you for joining me on this episode of . We hope that the inspiration and practical insights can help you foster stronger connections and meaningful change. Don't forget to subscribe, share the episode and leave us a review. To learn more about Visuals by Momo and how we support collaboration and storytelling, visit visualsbymomo. com. A huge thank you to everyone out there listening. Until next time, remember, collaboration fuels change and your connections can inspire the world.