Developing the Origin Story in Non-Profits is a process of reminding the people where you started, gathering the stories and powerful moments of your history, and invigorating the passion within the organisation.
Origin Stories in Action
At the launch of a 40th anniversary rebrand, the original founders of a Sydney women’s refuge stood alongside the young women who work there today. Different generations. Same fire in their belly. And every woman in the room knew it.
That moment is what origin story work makes possible: a reminder to those continuing with the work of the value and impact of what they do.
Nonprofits aren’t created by funding bodies. They’re created by people who see a need and are compelled to answer it. Finding that story again is how to turn a moment into momentum.
“As we collected our origin stories, I was re-inspired to live up to our vision and mission. I feel confident about the future of our organisation.”
— Tracey Johnson, CEO, Sandstone Healthcare
Origin story work traces the pattern from the beginning until now.
It uncovers:
- The values and qualities that are still present today
- The strengths — including forgotten strengths
- What’s still relevant and what no longer serves
- A touchstone for future decisions
This work fights organisational amnesia. After years of different stories and shifting priorities, it brings clarity back — about what the organisation is and what it can keep building from.
“We had to occupy the space to make sure it was ours. It took off very quickly.”
— Susan Varga, Bonnie Support Services
Origin story work surprises everyone
— including the CEOs who commissioned it.
What begins as a search for founding history becomes something much larger — a mirror to the values, purpose and culture that leadership has spent years trying to articulate and bring to life.
When the story emerges, it shows those values in action. It is evidence of how this organisation has always worked and what it has always stood for.
And it travels. Through staff inductions and board presentations, funding proposals and client relationships, communications and culture. The intelligence finds its way into corners of the organisation nobody expected.
Origin story intelligence can be used for:
- Brand refresh
- Strategic planning
- Annual reports
- Funding proposals
- Fundraising campaigns
- Staff inductions
- Board presentations
- Market positioning
- Advocacy and policy
- Communications
- Social media and content
- Partnerships
- Staff retention
- Leadership transitions
- Community engagement
This new understanding doesn’t sit on a shelf. It points the way toward change while protecting what makes the organisation special.
Origin Story Planning Lab
An origin story project can do far more than preserve history. It can reconnect your organisation with its purpose, strengths, values, and future direction.
Gather forgotten stories, insight and lived experience
Recognise the values and DNA still shaping your work today
Re-energise staff, leadership, partners and community
Clarify what makes your organisation distinct and worth remembering
An online concept, design and strategy session to uncover the intelligence already sitting inside your organisation — designed around your real constraints of time, budget and capacity.
You leave with a creative direction, a practical plan, and a clearer understanding of how to activate your story moving forward.
DIY, with Moya’s support, or have it delivered for you.
Investment: from $1750 + GST
Ready to make the most of your Story?
1:1 Work with Moya
✦ One mind on what you need
After more than two decades of creative strategy with nonprofits across Australia and New Zealand, Moya knows (and loves) this sector.
What she doesn’t love are all the things that get left on the table after a big investment. That’s why she brings the dynamic ideas and strategic thinking to make the most of your moment and turn it into momentum.
This is ideal for ideation, trouble-shooting, questions, creative direction.
“Moya has the best instincts of anyone I’ve ever worked with in this space. She has fabulous ideas and always takes me to a new possibility.”
— Jennifer Cummins, Executive Director, Heiress Films
Investment: from $550 + GST
Implementation Partner
✦ How most projects happen
And what Moya most loves to do.
She partners with you and your team to bring your project to life. Experience a new way of working with best-practice processes, new creative capabilities, skill building and first-person strategies to take into every project after this one.
Moya’s two decades of specialised knowledge covers the whole journey: creative concept, first-person gathering, ethics and consent, sense-making, writing and narrative development, brand alignment, AI tools, creative output design, risk management, troubleshooting.
Whatever your project needs, when it needs it. It’s a flexible design which means no lengthy proposals. We pick a date and we’re off!
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“Moya’s enthusiasm made success possible – she inspired others and energised the project team. Her wealth of experience and expertise in working with vulnerable people was invaluable.”
— Eamon Waterford, Formerly Policy Officer, UnitingCare Burnside
Investment: from $5,500 + GST
Done For You
✦ Full partnership
For organisations that want the full partnership — from creative strategy and concept design to final deliverables.
This is the work that built our reputation, now offered to just a few organisations a year.
Ideal for projects that are more than one event – gathering the voices, knowledge, ideas and experiences of your people for wider brand understanding, brand identity shifts, annual reports, creative communications for sharing brand voice/identity, books, films and campaigns etc.
“Your masterful presentation of our story gave our organisation a fresh appreciation of what can be achieved when people work together towards common goals.”
— Suzanne Colbert, AM CEO, AusDN
Investment: from $20,000 + GST
“Those insights have brought new understanding about our members and our beginnings that will impact our decisions well into the future.“
— Mark Turley, CEO, Living My Way
Case Study – Living My Way
Australian disability service Living My Way used their approaching 30th anniversary to capture their origin story, at last.
The original founders — 14 wheelchair users — had glimpsed true independence for the first time through a government pilot program in the 1970s. They called themselves The Lucky Few and worked throughout their lives to establish and run the organisation that would support the same possibilities for others. In short, how the Lucky Few wanted to grow into the Lucky Many.
Be inspired by what an origin story can do.
“We have found our voice and it speaks loud and clear to the people we want to reach.”
— Tracy Phillips, Executive Officer, Bonnie Support Services
Case Study – Bonnie Support Services
In 1974, a group of women in Western Sydney — some local, some activists from the inner city — sat down together because they’d had enough. Two years later, Bonnie’s became the second women’s refuge ever established in Australia.
“We had to occupy the place to make sure it was ours… We camped there a week or so while we got organised. I remember sleeping on the floor while we scrounged around for beds and the rest of it. We knew that once we had a house and we could take women in, they would come. And they did. It took off very quickly.”
— Susan Varga, founder, Bonnie Support Services
Fifty years on, that founding energy is still alive in everything they do. Their 40th anniversary was the moment they went back to find it — and recognised themselves in it again.
More Origin Story Work
Australian Network on Disability
20th Anniversary: From 5 people with a dream to 1.7 million connected to the story
Read their story →
Victorian Women’s Trust
40th Anniversary: “Who says we can’t?” brand story injects new vitality and activist energy
Read their story →
Work with Us
Whether you’re just starting to think about how to make the most of this moment or you’re ready to design and get going, a discovery call is the best place to start.