The Opportunity Alliance
How a Nonprofit Anniversary Campaign Unlocked a Storytelling Culture
Introduction
The Opportunity Alliance (TOA) is a community action agency operating 40+ programs in Maine, from housing, food security, WIC, and Head Start programs to residential mental health services and even Maine's statewide 988 crisis response line. TOA functions, in Development and Communications professional Aimee Senatore's words, like "the hub of a wheel" at the center of a vast (at times, overwhelming) array of programmatic spokes. In their efforts to help the public get a firmer grasp on TOA’s work and impact, Aimee’s team kept hitting the same hurdle: with so much to practically explain, impact ended up being explained too—described to audiences, rather than felt by them. Aimee needed a way to tell more resonant, authentic stories: not about the mechanics of TOA programs, but about the people at the heart of them. And with TOA's 60th anniversary on the horizon, it was time to try something new.
The Challenge
TOA's programs have touched people at some of the most vulnerable moments in their lives, and the staff at the helm of that work are often the least likely to want a spotlight. Creating the conditions for individuals in those realities to feel truly safe telling their stories — not from a place of obligation, but of genuine enthusiasm and authenticity — is something most impact story collection processes aren't built to solve. TOA’s past approaches — hiring an outside agency to produce a video reel, or emailing the same reliable staff cohort for a quick quote — stayed distant enough to avoid safety issues, but too often left the most compelling and necessary voices out of the frame. How could Aimee move closer? How could she make the experience of storytelling not just safe enough for staff and clients to say yes to, but natural enough that their authenticity would shine through?
The Approach
Jacqueline's Impact Storytelling series gave Aimee a new angle: relationship-based storytelling that centers the experience of the people sharing first and foremost — including taking an audio-only approach that puts even the most spotlight-averse storytellers at ease.
“I was so attracted to audio. Trying to get people on video — no one even wants their picture taken. They do amazing, impactful work, but nobody wants to be praised or spotlighted.”
Aimee left the course not just with a new storytelling model, but with the resources, project plan, and skills needed to take on the creative lead and producer role herself.
“I had no experience with audio. I went through it all without anybody helping me — Jacqueline’s guide is what I used from start to finish. It was extremely valuable.”
Aimee facilitated three shared storytelling sessions, each building on the confidence and skills of the last — and each a first for TOA's communications.
Foster Grandparent Program | Sonya & Fran — Fran, a 25-year Volunteer Grandparent, had spoken publicly about her work with the program before, but here, in personal conversation with the program director who'd witnessed Fran's decades of impact, their session broke new ground, uncovering how volunteering had given Fran a renewed sense of identity and a way to hold isolation at bay after the death of her husband.
Lakes Region Community Partnership | Susie & Mariah — Susie, the program lead for the Lakes Region Collective Action Network, talked with Mariah, a member and public school teacher, about how the two of them successfully teamed up to provide weekly food, with options students could choose from, to 25 of Mariah’s high schoolers facing barriers to day-to-day stability. This was the first time TOA centered the power of a community partnership in their storytelling with this level of depth.
Gordon Green Residential Treatment Program | Mike & Lucie — Gordon Green serves adults living with mental illness and chronic health conditions. Together with his residential technician Lucie, resident Mike reflected back on the experiences that brought him to the Gordon Green community. Stories from case management and residential work are among the rarest to be told at TOA, given client safety, sensitivity, and confidentiality concerns. This was the first time Aimee was able to record a live, first-person reflection from a resident.
What Made the Difference
Relationship-based storytelling works because it doesn't ask people to perform or persuade. Aimee invited each pair into reflection with someone they already trusted, on an experience they already shared — and that changed everything about what was possible in the room.
For Fran, that meant the vulnerability of her experience surfaced naturally — not in explanation about what the program does, but in conversation with someone she’s shared mission and connection with for over thirteen years.
For Susie, who (as a department of one) works largely independently from other TOA staff, it meant she didn’t have to step away from her work to explain to someone on the outside why it matters. Instead, Susie could resonate together with an on-the-ground collaborator who’s just as immersed and invested as she is.
For Mike, Lucie's participation didn’t just transform the story sharing -- it was the reason sharing was possible at all. As a consistent, trusted presence in his daily life, Lucie not only knew Mike’s sensitivities, she knew what would make him light up. This ensured the experience was more than just safe enough to participate in, but genuinely affirming for him.
Underlying all of it was Aimee’s ability, for the first time, to shepherd the entire story collection effort herself. She built the relationships with storytellers, crafted the questions, and created the conditions for something real to happen. That investment — and the trust it built — is what the stories reflect.
“When people feel safe to share what matters to them, I didn’t expect it to get so emotional — and every single one of the conversations did.”
The Results
Aimee and team shaped the three recorded sessions into short-form audiovisual stories that became the centerpiece of TOA's 60th anniversary campaign — shared across their website, social channels, and appeals communications, and brought to life at their marquee anniversary celebration in a Hall of Impact installation where attendees scanned QR codes to hear the stories firsthand. Drawing record attendance and participation, the event also saw more real-time, on-site donations than any previous year.
“I know that there was a confluence of factors that led to that — but I feel that the really personal stories were very much a part of it.”
Aimee also shared the stories internally — giving staff across TOA's many programs an intimate new window into impact happening in other corners of the organization, and reinforcing that common sense of identity that so often eludes organizations of this breadth.
And for Fran & Sonya, Susie & Mariah, Mike & Lucie, the storytelling experience itself was its own kind of reward. Sharing stories from your life not at someone, but with someone who has lived alongside them — it deepens that relationship in the telling. Storytellers leave feeling more connected to one another, and more anchored in the meaning of their own contribution to community. Aimee describes it as giving people 'the gift of being seen' — and Susie, as a storyteller, agrees:
“I loved being part of this. It can be a little lonely in a position that is broad and not contained to any one program at TOA — this experience validated my work and my connection to TOA’s mission. I am proud of what I get to do every day.”
This is the cultural dividend of relationship-based storytelling — and Aimee has seen it firsthand: each experience builds trust, affirms the dignity and agency of the people at the center of it, and paves the way for more and deeper storytelling over time.
“What this highlighted for me is that if it’s done right, I can pull more people out — and start to shift our culture to one where people feel more comfortable and engaged in telling the organization’s story.”
Inspired by how much three sessions have already connected with audiences, storytellers, and staff alike, Aimee hopes to make relationship-based storytelling a monthly practice at TOA:
“Its impact is very multifaceted - internal, cultural, in terms of public awareness and the ability to help people feel connected to the work. It’s just going to continue to help us. I want this to be a regular part of our organization. It’s just part of our storytelling culture now.”
