Overview
LET'S CREATE IMPACTFUL STORIES THAT GET YOU FUNDING
At Ember & Garden Narrative Co., I help nonprofits turn everyday moments of impact into stories that move funders to act — because behind every grant application and donor letter is a real person whose life was touched, and that's the part too often gets lost.
Nationally, donor retention rates have hovered in the mid-40% range — meaning more than half of last year's donors won't give again this year. It's a hard number, but it's also a hopeful one: organizations that lead with storytelling, rather than data alone, tend to hold onto their donors at meaningfully higher rates. People don't stay connected to a spreadsheet. They stay connected to a story that made them feel something.
Nonprofits don't sell products — you prove impact, every single day, often in ways that are hard to put into words. Turning your program data and the experiences of the people you serve into a story that truly moves a grantmaker, a major donor, or a corporate sponsor takes time, skill, and equipment that most nonprofit teams just don't have room for in an already-full week. That's where I come in.
I sit down with your program participants, your donors, and your staff, and I really listen — because the moments that matter most are usually the quiet, human ones that don't show up in a report. Then I shape what I hear into narrative content that strengthens your grant applications, funding proposals, and donor communications, weaving those human stories together with the data that backs them up. Every project I take on is grounded in more than a decade of nonprofit communications work, and in a genuine care for getting your story right — not just getting it done fast.
And because I've spent years inside nonprofit budgets as well as nonprofit stories, I can also help you find the funding to make this work — many of my clients write my fee directly into grant applications under Capacity Building, Evaluation, or Communications line items, rather than treating it as overhead.
I'd love for you to explore the full range of services below and see where we might be a fit.
ABOUT
MY STORY
Maya Parkins is the founder of Ember & Garden Narrative Co., helping nonprofits capture and tell the stories that move funders to act. With over a decade in nonprofit communications, she's led content strategy for mission-driven organizations and conducted countless interviews with program participants, donors, and staff to surface real impact stories. She holds an M.A. from American University and a B.A. from the University of Maryland, and is the published author of two books exploring trauma, survival, and transformation.
