What you’ll get from this post: John McCoy’s Impact Arc framework for getting more out of the stories you already have, plus a personal-outreach tactic that gets your community sharing them.
In my conversation with John McCoy, one idea stood out: most nonprofits are sitting on content goldmines and don’t even know it. We’re talking about organizations creating incredible stories, producing moving videos, and crafting compelling narratives, only to use them once and file them away. If you’re a Development Director, Communications Manager, or nonprofit leader struggling to maximize your storytelling impact while managing tight budgets and even tighter timelines, this framework could completely change how you approach content strategy.
John McCoy started out as a design-loving college kid who followed a flyer to an internship at Oklahoma State University Foundation. That decision led him to meet his future co-founder Becky Endicott and witness firsthand what happens when philanthropy operates at scale: $100 million gifts flowing in during a billion-dollar campaign.
Then reality hit. John and Becky moved to a healthcare foundation and immediately faced a crisis that would test everything they thought they knew about nonprofit communications. “The second week on the job, we’re getting publicly sued by Garth Brooks over naming rights of the hospital,” John shared. “We went from multi-million dollar campaigns to literally getting dragged through the national media cycle.”
That crisis became their catalyst. Instead of running from the challenge, they asked themselves a fundamental question:
“If we’re going to ask people in the community to care, to give, to invest, we have to believe from within first.”
John McCoy, We Are for Good
This insight led them to develop what would become the Impact Arc framework, a systematic approach to building movements through strategic storytelling. It increased their employee campaign results 10x.
The Impact Arc framework is about getting serious mileage from the stories you’re already telling. “How many times do we do all that work and then it literally goes and sits in an annual report collecting dust?” John asked. “It’s in a file in our Google Drive somewhere and never gets the light of day.”
The framework breaks down into three essential components: Stage, Syndicate, and Stoke. Each phase builds on the previous one to create what John calls “dialogue at scale,” which moves past one-way communication to genuine community engagement.
Stage is about strategic story preparation and positioning. Crafting a good narrative is only part of it. You also need to understand how this story fits into your larger movement-building goals. What belief are you trying to create? What action do you want people to take? The staging phase ensures every story serves your mission’s bigger picture.
Syndicate focuses on strategic distribution across multiple channels and formats. “The syndication lens,” as John calls it, looks at existing content and asks: “What has not gotten the light of day in front of all the audiences you’re trying to steward?” This phase turns one piece of content into multiple touchpoints.
Stoke is about sustaining engagement and creating ongoing conversation. “We’re in the middle of the attention economy,” John reminded me. “That’s what we’re fighting for. How do we get in front of people and actually cut through the noise?” Stoking means you actively nurture the conversation around the content you publish.
This might be the most immediately actionable part of our entire conversation. John challenges organizations to flip their content creation process completely.
“In the old days, I would spend at least 80% of the time making the content and maybe 20% of the time repurposing it. But this way, think of your creation as your 20%. Now you’ve got 80% of the time to think of creative ways to share it, repurpose it, plug it in places.”
John McCoy
Take your annual gala, for example. Most organizations invest months of planning, create multiple videos, develop compelling scripts, and coordinate incredible storytelling moments on stage. Then what happens? “Those people in the room probably had an amazing experience, but your community probably missed it,” John pointed out.
But what if you approached that gala with a syndication lens from the beginning? You’ve already created four videos. How can those become social media series, email campaign content, or donor stewardship pieces? The script you wrote contains messaging that could power your year-end appeal. The stories told on stage could become podcast episodes, blog posts, or board presentation materials.
“You’ve got AI tools today that could probably help you take that and cut it and slice it even faster than ever,” John noted. He’s also clear about the purpose: “We’re not just doing this to create a lot of noise. It’s got to be tailored to what are you trying to advance.”
What gets me excited about the syndication approach is how it honors the incredible investment organizations make in their signature events and campaigns. “Those of us that have worked on a gala know that it takes months to get to that point,” John said. “The more leverage you’re getting out of that and getting it outside of the walls, it’s honoring the investment of your staff’s time, your beneficiaries’ time, everybody that’s pulled into this effort.”
This connects directly to Tellwell’s Seasons of Story framework, the idea that great content should have multiple seasons of impact. When you create a powerful story during your spring campaign season, how does it continue working for you during cultivation season? How does it support your stewardship efforts? Strategic syndication ensures your best stories keep working year-round.
Syndication is also about equity.
Not everyone can attend your gala. Not everyone opens every email. Not everyone follows you on social media. By taking your most powerful content and presenting it across multiple channels and formats, you’re ensuring your impact stories reach the widest possible audience.
John shared one of his most practical tactics here, and I immediately wanted to use it. He calls it “dark social”: direct, personal outreach to amplify your content.
“Who are your most engaged people?” John asked. Instead of just tagging people in social media posts, “what if you DM’d and said, ‘Hey, thanks for being part of this night. We’re trying to share this with the greater community. Would you help share this?'”
His favorite hack is voice notes. “Get in voice notes with LinkedIn and just get in a flow. You can send 20, 30-second video clips in 15 minutes. Those people feel seen, they’re gonna be activated, and they’re gonna respond.”
This approach turns content amplification from broadcasting into relationship building. When you personally invite someone to share your story, you’re inviting them deeper into your mission. “It’s like an invitation to get activated around it too,” John explained. “People want that.”
Since our conversation, I keep thinking about what John and Becky built beyond a successful podcast and a large community. They created what they call an “Impact Uprising,” a movement where people gather in more than 50 cities around the world because they believe in something bigger than themselves.
That shift from managing messages to building movements is exactly what the Impact Arc framework enables. When you stage stories strategically, syndicate them systematically, and stoke engagement consistently, you’re inviting people to become part of your work.
The Seasons of Story framework aligns perfectly with this approach. Instead of treating each campaign as a discrete event, you’re building a year-round rhythm of engagement where every story, every piece of content, every interaction contributes to a larger narrative about change and possibility.
If you’re wondering how to actually implement this framework, start with John’s most practical advice: “Look at your work that’s already done. What is already created, what is already written down, that has not gotten the light of day?”
Maybe it’s last year’s impact report that contains incredible beneficiary stories. Maybe it’s video testimonials from your most recent campaign. Maybe it’s powerful moments from board presentations or volunteer training sessions. The content goldmine probably already exists in your Google Drive. You just need to mine it strategically.
Remember, this approach gets maximum impact from the incredible work you’re already doing, without piling more onto your already-stretched team. When you honor that investment through strategic syndication, you’re being efficient and effective.
Ready to change how your organization approaches storytelling? The Impact Arc framework gives you a systematic way to turn every piece of content into a movement-building asset. And if you want to explore how strategic storytelling could work specifically for your mission, we’d love to have that conversation.
Want to see how strategic storytelling could work for your mission? Book a clarity call with Tellwell to discuss your goals and explore how the Seasons of Story framework can amplify your impact: https://wetellwell.com/get-started/
This episode is a good start. But if you’re ready to stop reading about storytelling and start investing in yours, let’s talk.
