Breakthrough Birmingham:
A growing nonprofit’s story told fully for the first time.
First, a bit of context
I joined Breakthrough Birmingham not knowing what the organization did. It wasn’t totally clear on the website or in my interviews. Something about helping kids? Something about summer?
In my first few weeks, I was on a hunt for an answer - asking team members, donors, community partners, board members, “What does Breakthrough do?” The responses never dove deeper than “We help kids!” and I began to worry I somehow found the first nonprofit without a story to tell.
Until I watched the summer program in action.
Breakthrough only knew how to talk about its “why” and “what”. It turns out what set the organization apart was its “how”. Veteran educators training college students to be teachers for the summer. Those college students leading classrooms of middle schoolers. Closing summer learning loss gaps. Strengthening Alabama’s teacher pipeline. No one was telling the full story, and our classrooms needed this story told.
Although my role was development, the greatest contribution I made to Breakthrough Birmingham was figuring out how to tell its story. I crafted our external narrative, repositioned us to be an education + workforce development nonprofit, and trained our team how to talk about our work just as effectively. The response was incredible. We doubled our revenue in the first year with a new story, then maintained that growth for the next two years and counting.
Nonprofit communications are often considered a nice-to-have. Maybe the development director can give some thought to it between meetings. Maybe we’ll get around to it when there’s more funding or after the strategic plan is finalized. However, I have learned that communications is what builds trust, changes minds, and moves people. The story is the core of the work, and it’s being told regardless of if it’s being crafted.
The “Meet Breakthrough”
blog series
To understand an organization’s mission, you need to know its people. To accompany Breakthrough’s first giving campaign, I wrote four blog posts about people who’s story has been directly impacted by Breakthrough’s work.
Script + concept for summer promo video
Breakthrough’s summer program is complex, but it helps to meet the stakeholders. I created the concept and script for this introduction video that ultimately helped Breakthrough tell its story while fundraising, seeking partnerships, and recruiting talent. Produced by Sam Evans at Rhythm Creative.
Fresh copy to match a fresh website
Breakthrough’s story - and website - needed some attention. I wrote the new site’s copy with the goal of keeping the voice approachable but trustworthy. Site built by Infomedia.
Bringing the classroom into the community
Breakthrough’s most effective (but least known) program is Thrive Teacher Coaching - holistic professional development for early career teachers on the brink of leaving the classroom.
I couldn’t bring the community into schools to show Thrive’s impact, so I designed an immersive day of experiencing the classroom like a teacher. In this photo, community members learn how to successfully arrange classroom furniture for learning, a skill gained by Thrive Teachers through the program.
Fewer words, more impact
Effective storytelling is often concise.
These resources have been used as one-pagers in donor meetings, as table top marketing at recruiting events, and as decor during a new office open house - all moments when full attention can be a luxury.