The Strategic Steward — May 2026
EDITION 002 : May 2026
Once Upon a Time…
Are you sharing stories with your supporters that align with the way their mind works? Facts, abstractions, or instructions are easily forgotten. People remember experiences, emotions, and meanings.
Charity Spotlight
This month, interviews with Carolyn Farquhar, Chair of Cheetah Conservation Fund Canada and Amina Mohamed, Founder and Executive Director of Cameras for Girls.
Required Reading
Links to articles and books to keep you inspired.
Once upon a time…
…in a board room far, far away
NOTE: A revised version of this article was published under the banner “The Strategic Steward” with Future of Good (futureofgood.co) May 2026. A link to that version is here.
Board trainers, educators, and strategic consultants all suggest that effective stewardship for non-profits is about boards working together to ensure good governance, effective internal controls, and the management of donated assets in accordance with fiduciary standards.
It’s all important work. Vital, in fact, to expanding the impact nonprofits have in the communities they serve.
That is the definition of stewardship: responsibly caring for something entrusted to you. But stewardship is not simply compliance; it’s a call to deploy resources in a way that honours donors’ intentions, serves present needs, and protects future capacity.
But as data analysis becomes more prevalent, board meetings are getting overwhelmed with numbers. Investment returns. Tax figures. Hits on social media sites.
Why stories matter
Years ago, my group was responsible for brand management and advertising at a large Canadian financial services company. One of the first exercises we ran with the executive leadership team was to give everyone an index card and a pencil, asking them to silently write down the corporate mission and how they would describe that to an outsider.
Think of it as a very slow, very quiet elevator pitch.
No surprises. For the most part, management aligned with the firm’s overall mission. However, they were completely disconnected when it came time to explain that mission to others.
Many organizations end up this way if they don’t spend enough time building, sharing, and creating new stories internally.
Stories are important. They align with the way the human mind works. Facts, abstractions, or instructions are easily forgotten. However, we remember experiences, emotions, and meanings.
Stories provide the foundation for connection and memory. If management had a series of shared stories to draw on, the results might have been different.
Most will never remember the opening lines to this year’s annual report, but decades later, you’d probably remember reading “Call me Ishmael”, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”, or “It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.”
Good stories are memorable. Great stories are unforgettable.
Stewardship as institutional memory
Every donated dollar is an untold story, because someone made the active decision to support one specific organization: yours. For those who give, donations are powerful expressions of personal values.
But as board binders get heavier and dashboards become flashier, meetings get filled with metrics instead of meaning. Integers over inspiration.
Somewhere along the way, the “why” gets lost, and stewardship slips into administration.
Incorporating story collecting and storytelling into your process helps unify entire teams and provides institutional memory as people change and strategies evolve. Reports are a great tool for telling people what happened.
But it’s a story that would connect people to why it matters at all.
Boards often treat storytelling as an external function. It is! Donor communications, annual reports, and campaign videos are important.
But, from a governance and strategy perspective, the most important audience for stewardship stories is internal because it creates shared language about:
The impact the work has on communities,
How donor intent is respected,
Why certain risks are taken and others avoided,
How today’s decisions impact the mission.
When boards stop creating stories and start curating them, something important shifts. Board members become more than just responsible for assets and administration, they become custodians of the stories.
Stories as a strategic asset
A five‑year return figure tells you how the portfolio performed. An auditor’s report shows that you are operating with honesty and transparency. Yet, it’s a story that explains what good governance made possible.
In this sense, storytelling is a strategic asset. It guides decision-making, influences behaviour and ensures that stewardship survives transitions of leadership and membership.
If stewardship is the responsible care of what has been entrusted to a board, then stories are how that care is remembered, transmitted, and renewed.
Because long after the charts are recycled and the reports are forgotten, it is the story that remains:
Once upon a time, we told someone a story and built a connection.
They supported us with a donation.
We told them what their trust made possible.
We remember. They do too.
What’s your story?
Charity Spotlight
In April, through our Grow for Change project, we published two interviews that profiled Canadian charities that are making a difference. All episodes are available in video format on YouTube or in an audio-only format through Spotify. Listen now to learn more about the great work these groups are leading.
Worldwide cheetah populations have been on the decline for the last century. According to National Geographic, approximately 100,000 cheetahs roamed Africa and Asia in 1900. Today, less than 10,000 exist in the wild. Carolyn Farquhar talks about how Cheetah Conservation Fund is making a difference to save these animals.
Amina Mohamed is on a mission to do more than just teach photography. The charity she founded, Cameras For Girls, equips young women in Africa with the skills, tools, and confidence to secure paid work in media. In the short term, this breaks the cycle of poverty through meaningful employment. In the long term, it transforms male-dominated media spaces across Africa. Job creation is at the core of her mission because according to her, "when women gain financial independence, they change their lives and uplift their communities."
Required Reading
A curated collection of articles and books meant to inspire you.
Good to Great and the Social Sectors: Why Business Thinking is Not the Answer by Jim Collins: This book was one of the first that truly made me “think differently” about the differences (and similarities) between nonprofit and for-profit business. It opened my eyes. It might open yours.
The Greater Good by Madeleine Shaw: Shaw does a great job detailing how social change ventures can be created. This book is a blueprint for people looking to make the world a better place, one business idea at a time.
Craig Swistun is Portfolio Manager with Lexicon Financial Group (www.lexiconfinancialgroup.com) at Raymond James Investment Counsel.
The opinions expressed are those of Craig Swistun and not necessarily those of Raymond James Investment Counsel which is a subsidiary of Raymond James Ltd. Statistics and factual data and other information presented are from sources believed to be reliable but their accuracy cannot be guaranteed. It is furnished on the basis and understanding that Raymond James is to be under no liability whatsoever in respect thereof. It is for information purposes only and is not to be construed as an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of securities. Raymond James advisors are not tax advisors and we recommend that clients seek independent advice from a professional advisor on tax-related matters.
There is no relationship between Raymond James Investment Counsel and either Cheetah Conservation Fund or Cameras for Girls. Participation is at the viewers discretion. Images were created using Adobe Firefly.
