Fundraising in Africa: telling impact stories with dignity

For decades, much fundraising for African causes followed a formula: a sad child, flies, a dusty background, a voice asking for pity. It raised money. It also shaped how the world sees Africa, and how many Africans felt seen.

A growing number of African-led organisations, and many international ones, now work differently. They tell stories in which people are agents, not victims: a mother who organised her neighbours to build a water point, a young man who trained as a solar technician, a girls' football team that changed what its village expects of girls. Those stories raise money too, often from donors who were tired of the old images.

Principles for dignified storytelling

• People are the heroes of their own stories. Your organisation supported them; it did not save them.
• Consent is informed and ongoing. People should understand where their image will appear, and be able to say no or withdraw.
• Context, not caricature. Show homes, communities and countries as they are: complex, varied, ordinary.
• Children deserve extra protection. Avoid identifying details, and get a guardian's consent.
• Let people speak. Use their words, in their language, with accurate translation.

AI video raises new questions

AI video can help small organisations tell stories they could never afford to film. It also creates risks:

• Never generate a "beneficiary" and present them as real. Supporters believe they are seeing a real person's life.
• Do not create suffering for effect. Generated images of hungry children are a new version of an old harm.
• Label illustrations. If a scene is generated to explain an idea, make that clear.

Used well, AI is excellent for explaining how a programme works: the steps of a savings group, how a clinic is organised, what a training looks like. Real stories of real people should come from real people, with consent.

Making it with Tari Studio

With Tari Studio, you can type /script with the length and the outline, edit the timed scenes the AI director writes, and make a short video. Attach real photos (with consent) to build from your own material. Set the language to Kiswahili, English, the mix or French. The Studio's guidance on pictures of people applies here: only include people who agreed to appear, and children only with a parent's or guardian's consent.

Show the community's voice

Some of the most powerful fundraising content is made with communities, not about them: a youth group that writes its own script, a women's co-operative that chooses how it wants to be shown. The Studio's /script feature can help a community group turn its own ideas into a video. Scripts with /script.

Respect raises more than pity

Donors who give because of respect tend to stay. Donors who give out of guilt tend to drift. Tell stories that would make the people in them proud.

Plan your next story.