Nonprofit Storytelling Interviews: Plan the Questions

A nonprofit can have a folder full of interviews and still not have the story it needs.

I've seen it more than once. The event is documented. The program is explained. But the person at the center of it barely shows up, beyond the fact that something happened to them. And then somebody asks the writer to "make it more human," which can't create information nobody gathered.

The people doing those interviews usually did exactly what they were asked to do. The ask was the problem.

So on a recent call, I asked a client if we could help shape the questions before the next round of interviews. Not to script anybody. Just to give the people gathering stories better direction, so the editorial work starts where it should... at the beginning.

Here's how I'd think about it. It's a production workflow, not permission to push anyone for personal material.

1. Decide what the piece is for before you write a single question

A program explainer and a personal profile might feature the same person, but they need completely different interviews.

If you're explaining a service, you need an accurate account of what it does. If you're telling someone's story, you need their perspective, not a script built to prove the message you already had.

Have your communications lead write a short brief: who this is for, where it might be used, and what you already know so the interview doesn't waste time repeating it.

And keep the goal separate from the emotional ending you're hoping for. The person doesn't owe you an inspiring arc. A good interview might complicate your story or show you it shouldn't be told this way at all.

2. Settle the person's choices before you record

The conversation about participation comes before the request for detail. Explain how it'll be used in plain language and give them a real chance to say no.

UNHCR's ethical communications guidance treats informed consent and dignified representation as core principles across production and distribution in a humanitarian context. The guidelines are here. Dóchas publishes a guide for development and humanitarian communications built around contributor-led storytelling and informed consent. Read it here.

That's specialist guidance, not a claim that every nonprofit has the same legal duties. But both are good references to sit alongside your own safeguarding and consent process. Agreeing to a conversation doesn't mean every future use is settled. Bring in your program or safeguarding lead when the situation calls for it.

3. Give the interview a route, not a script

A few open questions, then follow-ups that depend on what you hear. Enough direction to get useful material, enough room to actually listen.

A few prompts I'd start with:

What would you want someone who doesn't know this situation to understand?

What did a normal day look like back then?

Is there something important our questions haven't given you room to say?

A "normal day" question fits some situations and feels intrusive in others. Adapt it with whoever's leading the interview, or skip it.

And don't go digging for the hardest detail just because it'd make a stronger opening. Specificity can come from something ordinary, a preference, a correction to an assumption. The person should get to choose what matters to them.

4. Follow the answer instead of hunting for the quote

When someone gives a broad answer, ask what they mean before you polish it into a message.

Say someone tells you a program made their week easier. A good follow-up asks which part of the week, if they're comfortable sharing. A bad one supplies the reason and asks them to agree.

That difference matters later. A line you fed someone isn't the same as a detail they volunteered, and the finished story shouldn't hide which one it is.

Give your interviewer permission to walk out with a different story than the one in the brief. If the strongest material is a practical obstacle, don't force it into a transformation story because that's the word on the brief.

5. Plan visuals around what can honestly be shown

Before a shoot, figure out what context the editor will need. Maybe it's footage that helps people understand the setting.

That's to support an accurate story, not to stage something that didn't happen or imply unrelated footage belongs to this person's experience. Keep notes on where footage came from and any limits on using it. If there's translation, have someone qualified check that the meaning survived.

And know what not to collect. More footage isn't more useful if it pulls unnecessary personal information into your archive.

6. One person's story isn't a program statistic

A person's account tells you what they experienced. It doesn't tell you how often that happens across everyone you serve.

If the finished piece makes a bigger claim, get the program data separately and label the scope. Same with cause and effect: someone can describe changes that happened while they were in a program, but claiming the program caused them needs its own support.

Have a program reviewer check the factual parts, and keep that review from turning into "can we make them sound more grateful."

7. Review the short versions on their own

A full article can carry context that disappears in a 30-second clip. Watch the excerpt by itself. Does it still mean what the person meant? If not, pick a different excerpt. Don't count on the long version to fix it.

Record who approved the facts and the uses, and follow your own process for people who want to change or pull their story later. And before anything goes live, check the circumstances again. An interview can sit in a folder long after things have changed for the person in it.

8. Let the gaps write the next brief

After editing, write down what was missing. Maybe the writer couldn't nail down the sequence of events. Maybe the footage didn't show what was being described. That feedback goes straight into the next brief.

Don't grade an interview by how many posts you can cut out of it. Grade it by whether the final piece answers the question it was built for and whether you can trace every claim back to the source.

Our nonprofit marketing playbook covers the bigger picture, and the donor welcome email guide covers a different moment entirely. When TMG does branding and messaging work for a nonprofit, this is where we want to start: early enough to shape the questions.

Better stories don't come from better editing. They come from better questions.