When you have such a good handle on the ways in which you are saving the world and why your cause is important, it can be hard to remember that other people might not see it the same way. This is why storytelling has always been such a key skill for nonprofits, because to really be effective we need to engage with a network of donors, volunteers and other types of supporters. And now, thanks to digital media, we can give our networks a more direct window into our work, and make our story easier to share.

Because the ability to tell our story with digital technology is so important, TechSoup Global hosts an annual Digital Storytelling Challenge. In short, how it works is that you submit a one-minute video or collection of photos that tell the story of the work that you do.

I had the chance to attend the award ceremony last week in San Francisco, where the winners of the challenge (a mix of community voting and jury selection) were revealed. It was very inspiring to hear all the different stories, and see the creative ways that people had found to tell them. Even better, the range of organizations there proved that making a video or photo collection is not just for big organizations - some of them only had one staff member!

In particular, I was excited to see the great submissions from Canadian organizations - and two of them were award winners! In second place overall was the Developmental Disabilities Association:

As well, Muscular Dystrophy of Canada was awarded "Best of Canada" and "Most Effective Call-to-Action":

The other wonderful Canadian organizations that submitted videos or photos to the challenge include:

Nightingale Initiative for Global Health

Toronto Center for Community Learning and Development

Bridges for Women

(See all of their photos)

P.A.R.T.Y. Program, Sunnybrook Health Sciences

Interested in finding out more? Check out the other challenge winners and learn about how to make your own digital story.