Stories that inspire more to do good

A PICTURE paints a thousand words, it is said, and today, just one digital story in the avatar of a video can inspire a thousand acts of charity.

This has been the experience of Our Better World (OBW), launched in 2012. The mission of the digital storytelling arm of the Singapore International Foundation (SIF) is to bring communities together to do good, especially in Asia.

OBW unlocks stories of people engaged in charitable acts, and shares them with a global community to excite and create sparks of change. OBW's human-interest stories of hope and redemption galvanise people to do something - such as donating to a cause, signing up to volunteer or supporting a social enterprise by supporting their online store with purchases.

OBW does not attach a specific value to how much it has helped raise in dollar terms, but it says its main target is for every story to inspire concrete action. While OBW and SIF are not fundraising platforms, a tally is kept on the number of actions through an annual impact report, and not on the money raised.

Even so, data shows that NGOs and social enterprises did receive more donations, as part of the impact of OBW's stories. For example, after OBW told the story of Willing Hearts Orphanage, an NGO in the Philippines, it saw donations per month increasing more than three times from US$377; and in-kind donations per month rising to US$283 from US$132.

Based on OBW's annual community survey, 4 per cent of people donate to organisations after watching an OBW story.

Also, a recent survey of over 1,000 visitors to OBW's Virtual Reality exhibition provided new insights into the effectiveness of digital storytelling in Asia. On April 30, OBW shared findings that connect digital storytelling with people's propensity to support social causes in Asia.

The findings come from a post-experience survey by 1,120 visitors to OBW's virtual reality exhibition. These visitors took an immersive dive into the worlds of those living with visible and invisible disabilities through OBW's original three-story VR series In a Different Sense. The series comprised stories from Indonesia, India and Singapore where 92 per cent of the respondents said the stories helped them empathise with the daily challenges faced by people with disabilities, moving them to do more for those with disabilities; 88 per cent shared that the stories inspired them towards a more inclusive society.

Says Rebecca Lim, head of OBW: "Our 2018 impact report showed that we succeeded in activating our online community to take 5,623,147 actions - including shares, likes, comments and story actions being volunteering, donating or supporting the featured cause.

"In our annual community survey, we ask what happens after viewing our stories. For 2018, 75 per cent of respondents shared that the stories inspired them in wanting to contribute to social causes, and 60 per cent took action in various ways," she adds.

OBW has identified a real need for many non-profits and social enterprises in Asia who have either no capabilities or resources to tell their own stories. "We learnt that when these stories are not told, the lack of awareness limits the potential resources that can reach them. And if you take 100 per cent of the online audience, our hypothesis is that 5 per cent are already doing good and another 5 per cent, whatever you do, would not do good. We believe there is at least 90 per cent of our online community who can be compelled into action."

OBW's impact in 2018 saw 35 stories told in the form of videos, photo essays and blog posts. Throughout Asia, it has some stellar examples of the power of videos to galvanise action:

Can more be done to move the needle on helping the underprivileged in a way that is being seen in more developed societies overseas? "We have observed that cause-related marketing, which is more established in markets such as the US, is currently still at a nascent stage in Asia," says Ms Lim.

"However, we believe that this trend will gain momentum in our region where brands will start recognising the value of purpose-driven marketing that can result in positive social impact. This, in turn, can help strengthen their brand affinity with customers. We believe that this will be the next evolution of brand storytelling in Asia. For OBW, our plans include partnering with corporates in Asia to tell stories focused on a cause that is important for their brand and business, particularly within their key markets in Asia."

OBW, now in its seventh year, has much to take stock of. It has generated over 37 million online views of OBW stories, leading to over 5.6 million actions taken for positive social impact in 2018 as well as bagging the 2019 Humanitas and Innovation Awards in the Impact Video category of the Social Impact Media Awards from the United States, among other notable accomplishments.

Over the long haul, OBW aims to build a movement in Asia, encouraging more people online to come onboard and champion the power of stories to inspire charitable acts.

It wants to be the online platform for positive impact where everyone can play their part by contributing powerful and meaningful content to bridge fragmented societies and truly foster an inclusive community across borders, religions, races, class divides and generations.