Our Model: Infrastructure for Direct Support
Story of Helping provides professional back-office support to local humanitarian organizations through documentary book sales. Instead of donations, we've created value exchange: supporters purchase premium documentary books that fund humanitarian projects while creating authentic accountability documentation.
This approach enables local organizations to access funding directly—without navigating complex donor systems or working through international intermediaries—while maintaining full control over their programming decisions.
The problem we're addressing:
Globally, local humanitarian organizations possess deep community trust, cultural knowledge, and sustained presence that make them most effective at responding to crises. Yet they receive less than 3% of humanitarian funding directly.
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The gap isn't about capability—it's about infrastructure. Traditional funding requires:
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Complex donor reporting systems
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Expensive internal financial management capacity
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Sophisticated grant-writing and compliance expertise
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Ability to navigate bureaucratic requirements while serving communities in crisis
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International NGOs evolved to provide these systems. But this created an unintended consequence: local organizations must work through intermediaries to access resources, often sacrificing decision-making authority in the process.
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We built different infrastructure.
How Our Model Works
Documentary Books Fund Projects Directly
Supporters pre-order premium documentary photobooks chronicling complete humanitarian projects—from planning through implementation to impact. These pre-orders fund project implementation.
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The complete package includes:
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12"×12" museum-quality hardcover photobook (120 pages)
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8"×8" accountability companion booklet integrating narrative with metrics and financials
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Digital editions and multimedia story library
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Real-time engagement throughout project implementation
Professional Infrastructure, Local Control
Local organizations maintain full programming authority. They decide what work to do, how to implement it, and how to adapt based on community feedback.
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We provide the professional infrastructure they need:
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Financial management and real-time budget tracking
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Payment processing directly to vendors from project accounts
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Project oversight and implementation support
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Content creation and professional documentation
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Transparent reporting to all stakeholders
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One team with distinct responsibilities—not a hierarchy.
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Local organizations control their accounts within our system. They approve all expenditures. We process payments and handle financial tracking. Both parties have complete visibility. All transactions are visible in real-time to funders.
Standard Pricing for Transparent Access
We use standardized pricing across all projects. No proposal competitions, no subjective "worthiness" assessments, no negotiation from positions of weakness.
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Every project operates on the same terms:
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1,000 purchases at $170 each = $170,000 total revenue
Where your $170 goes:
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Base Project Funding ($100):
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$60 → Direct implementation (materials, services, beneficiary support)
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$10 → Local organization discretionary support
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$30 → Platform support (project management, financial oversight, content creation)
2. Premium Production ($70):
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~$50 → Production costs (printing both books, premium packaging, international shipping, payment processing)
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~$20 → Net profit, split 50/50:
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$10 to local organization (discretionary funds)
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$10 to Story of Helping (30% invested in capacity building fund)
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This standardized, transparent model removes gatekeeping barriers, creates clear expectations, and enables any capable local organization to access funding—regardless of size, establishment, or grant-writing sophistication.
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Checkpoints
Projects have built-in checkpoints ensuring purchasers maintain choice throughout sales campaigns. If the targets for purchasers are not reached within timeframes, purchasers can choose to continue with adapted scope, receive refunds, or transfer to other projects. This flexibility recognizes humanitarian work operates in complex, changing environments.
Why This Approach Is Different
Direct connection, no intermediary
Book buyers choose specific projects because the story resonates. Local organizations reach an international audience directly. No INGO extracting overhead or filtering the narrative.
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Preserved autonomy through structure
Programming decisions remain with local organizations. We provide infrastructure support, not hierarchical oversight. Transparent systems ensure accountability without gatekeeping.
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Sustainable financing model
Value exchange rather than grant dependency. Supporters pay for something they value independent of charitable motivation. Local organizations benefit from promoting premium editions to their networks.
Professional accountability without bureaucracy
Complete documentation (photobook, companion, multimedia) serves supporters and naturally extends to other uses. Same transparency, adapted formats.
Capacity building at portfolio level
30% of platform profits fund programs decided collectively by local organizations. At 18-24 projects annually, this generates $54K-$72K for systematic partner strengthening—impossible through project-by-project approaches.
Accountability Through Infrastructure
Every project produces professional documentation:
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Complete visual story from planning through impact
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Narrative integrated with financial tracking and metrics
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Real-time transaction visibility throughout implementation
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Videos, testimonials, and behind-the-scenes content
This isn't compliance reporting—it's authentic storytelling that creates natural accountability. Supporters see the complete journey, including challenges and adaptations. Local organizations control how their story is told.
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The same documentation that serves book buyers can be adapted for corporate ESG reporting or institutional donor requirements—same data integrity, different formats.
Infrastructure Being Built for Scale
Story of Helping operates using proven tools and processes—the same professional systems international NGOs use internally. Our first 24 projects serve as pilots for developing Aid Cloud: a purpose-built technology platform designed to scale infrastructure-as-a-service across the humanitarian sector.
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Currently: We provide professional back-office support using established systems, proving the concept works in practice.
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Future vision: Aid Cloud will enable greater efficiency and scale, allowing professional teams to support many more local organizations simultaneously while maintaining quality standards.
Geographic Focus
We work with organizations in Myanmar and along the Thailand border—contexts where our team has deep expertise, language capabilities, and established relationships. Effective implementation support requires understanding local dynamics and having credibility in the humanitarian ecosystem.
We expand through people with context knowledge, not markets with funding opportunities.