EPISODE 15: Documentary storytelling for nonprofits, with Candice Jordan

(Episode transcribed electronically)

Matt Pearl: Hello, friends. This is Dot Org, Episode 15, the podcast all about how nonprofits tell their stories. I am your host, Matt Pearl. I was a broadcast journalist, a TV news reporter for 20 years. Now I run Pearl Impact Media where I craft videos for nonprofits that get used and remembered. In addition to that, I also host this podcast where we help you build your nonprofit storytelling strategy.

And this is an episode I've been anticipating for months because it's about a project I really haven't been able to say much about publicly, and there's still only so much I can say about it publicly, but it is a project that means so much to me, and it's a project that I think could be of such great use and a model for nonprofits nationwide looking to quite simply change the conversation.

Last year, early last year, I was approached by the Chief Development Officer of Atlanta Habitat for Humanity. She was interested in video beyond the ample video that they already do. She was looking for a project of major scope that would change the conversation around affordable housing in Atlanta and place home ownership at the center of it. The result is a 15-minute documentary called Rooted that is rolling out publicly this spring.

And I am joined now by that same chief development officer who led the charge on all of this from Atlanta Habitat for Humanity, Candice Jordan. Welcome to Dot Org.

Candice Jordan: Thank you. Thank you so much. I'm so excited to have this conversation.

Matt Pearl: Same here. And first question, Candace, always the toughest. Tell us about Atlanta Habitat in 30 seconds or less. And you probably come in with an advantage here because I think people know a lot about Habitat, but maybe specifically as it relates to Atlanta in 30 seconds or less.

Candice Jordan: Thirty seconds, that is tough. Well, what I like to share is that Atlanta Habitat is really deeply focused on not only building new construction, but preserving homes and creating social mobility opportunities for our homeowners. That's us in a nutshell.

Matt Pearl: I love it. And obviously you heard my rendition of how Rooted came to be and how this project came to be. I would love to hear your version of it and kind of when the idea came into your mind. We had several conversations about just doing something. I would love to hear from you about when this went beyond just the nice idea process and became something that you seriously were thinking, "We should really do this."

Candice Jordan: Yeah. You know what? I've had fits and starts of this idea over probably the course of a year. I've been inspired by past many documentaries that really tell a compelling story very quickly, succinctly, but also create some kind of sparking inspiration in some way to the viewer.

And I think what really prompted me to move forward was in a conversation we had early on, Matt, in you telling your story about going out and wanting to help nonprofits better tell their stories in hopes that it will spark some type of action, support, volunteerism. And we had a really great conversation that really had ... It was an ideating conversation, but it really, I think, solidified the idea to say, "No, we should just do it. We got to do it."

But also recognizing that this is a pivotal time. And so we won't always have this moment where affordable housing is the center of many conversations. And as much as we want to talk about it and create solutions around it, our affiliate, our organization, is doing great work in this space. And I thought, why not now to highlight this moment and the stories of the families that we're able to serve?

Matt Pearl: There's so much that you said that I would love to dive into. One of the things that really stood out is what you just said, which is this idea that there is this moment. And right now in Atlanta, we have a mayor who has made affordable housing his top priority. I think you can look nationally and see how affordable housing is a challenge, to put it lightly, for many of our bigger cities. And one of the things I remember, and not to flip the timeline on this, but you and I met after the completion of the documentary. We met for coffee one day, and you were telling me how really so much of it is finding when the spotlight is there and capitalizing.

So this is an organization both nationally and within Atlanta, the home base of Habitat, where you've been doing this work for decades, and now there's this moment. And now you've got to figure out how are you going to, A, get home ownership at the center of that conversation, get habitat at the center of that conversation. I have to imagine that's a lot of what was going through your mind when this was getting underway.

Candice Jordan: Absolutely. And I've worked in a nonprofit space for a long time, and I do know that we are usually a national crisis or disaster or economic shift away from a conversation being around an issue or a center point of the mission that the organization that might be elevating.

So I do know that although affordable, I'm hoping that we can work on solutions where we won't be talking about affordable housing for generations to come, but the reality is that we will. And my hope is that we can inspire conversation that will keep it relevant and top of mind and in conversation for years to come.

And that really is what this documentary was all about, is to say not only talking about the challenges we're facing in affordable housing, because the topic of affordable housing is so broad, right? There's rental, there's housing insecurity, there's a spectrum of challenges that we are dealing with within this umbrella of affordable housing, but home ownership is such a slither of that, unfortunately.

And we all know what the opportunities owning a home does for families and the legacy it creates and the financial security it creates. And so this is a moment in time where we can say, "Oh no, we've got something to say." To borrow a quote from my friend's outcast, Atlanta Habitat has something to say in this, and it's really important that we pay attention to it.

Matt Pearl: Yeah. I think that's so powerful and couldn't agree with you more. I do want to back up a little bit because I know you and I had talked and you had mentioned the work that I'm doing with Pearl Impact Media. And just to give a little context for our viewers and listeners beyond what I mentioned at the top of the show, basically, I was a journalist for 20 years. I have run Pearl Impact Media now for almost a year and a half, and I've worked with nonprofits across Atlanta, some across the country on some really powerful video projects. I would say the majority of those projects, the vast majority, are short form videos, right? Some really short, like a minute long, but mostly in the two to three minute range, maybe three to four, maybe four to five.

Now, your organization has plenty of those videos already. You have a tremendous video storyteller in- house, Tatiania Perry, who I got to work with on this project. I'm curious for you, and I think this is something that will be really instructive for a lot of the nonprofit leaders listening to this. What made this concept so necessary? This idea of a mini documentary, which I think at the time we figured would be in the 15 to 20 minute range that was kind of a target. What made that a necessary length to do what you're talking about doing and advancing the conversation?

Candice Jordan: Yeah. So great question. And I will just say first that I am fortunate to have an amazing marketing communications team. That is rare, as you know, working with a lot of different nonprofits to have that capacity in- house. Not only can they write, but to collect content through digital video, I have an amazing team that is able to produce high quality content, which is truly, truly unique and a blessing.

And so this opportunity actually was a little twofold, to be honest. We had never thought about extending our storytelling. So although I have an amazing team, they still are pretty new to the organization. This is the first time, the last couple of years, the way that we have been elevating our homeowners as the center of the conversation is a new-ish concept for our affiliate, but it's really important as we think about how do we really communicate impact? How do we really communicate true outcomes, not output, which are our home builds, but outcomes?

And the greatest way that we can do that is through the voices of our homeowners. And so we've done iterations of that and really expanded our muscle around that.

The documentary was a new concept for us, but I thought about it as a great opportunity for an organization because it would extend what we've already been doing in a different, more compelling way. And because I have such a young, energetic, very professional marketing team who are looking for opportunities to expand their own skillsets, this also created that format.

So how do we extend your own skills so that we can continue to do this over and over, but under the support and direction under a professional like you, Matt, who could help us think more broadly about ways that we can bring this story to life.

Matt Pearl: So the other thing that I would say about that too is that, and this is kind of separate from the larger point of why do the documentary, but I will say I'm always talking about with the nonprofits that I work with, the idea of almost making your own luck when it comes to storytelling and the work that you do to tell stories in house actually makes it even better when you start working with an outside professional who's going to do a robust story.

And in this case, having such a young, energetic, talented team made my life so much easier during production of this documentary because I mean, they did so much of the advanced work in terms of vetting out potential homeowners to share their stories and doing a lot of that early work, making me feel very much on the inside of Habitat, even though I don't work directly for Habitat.

I felt very confident that I could convey the stories that you all wanted to and with the meaning and the mission that you all wanted. So I really do think that even if working with an outside videographer or doing a documentary, even if that's not in your plans as a nonprofit right now, there is so much you can do in the way you were just talking about by figuring out what is our story to tell and how can we start doing that now with the resources that we have?

Candice Jordan: Yeah. No, and that's so right. And I will say that it does take a special type of external perspective in order for that to work too. So I think about engaging anytime we bring someone into our mission, right? We have what I call a staff full across our organization full of good humans. And there are people that really get the work deep down and believe in it and want to elevate it in a way that's authentic and feels natural and resonates with not only them, but helps bring others along for that journey. And it does take, I will say, a special type person as we engage external folks to really understand that too, to be able to go deep and really understand the work to a level to where you can create a story around it.

And Matt, I will give you your flowers around that too, is that I knew you before and I knew your work, and I knew that you would get this right, and I knew that you would be the person that could help us tell this story, bringing in that outside perspective, but also an openness to be authentic and to learn about.

And it's interesting because I tell people all the time, we tell stories all the time, the way you dress, the way you look, we're always telling a story about ourselves and about ourselves. And I think that's what brings people along. We want to work with people who we think can also get it and want to tell this story in the way that we want it to be told, but more importantly, that get it the way that we do. And so I think that that's a huge ... That for me is what solidified as we thought about moving forward, it just made sense for me and the team.

Matt Pearl: Well, thank you for that.

I will say it's something as a journalist, I always do feel like I always noticed, and before I started this company, I had a job where I was traveling every other week to different cities and sharing stories on a short form level like the ones that I do now on a longer form level. And there is something I would always notice about just how people on the inside of those stories, the people whose stories that I would be telling always would be surprised about what I found fascinating about it and be surprised sometimes about the questions that I thought were interesting or the answers that they gave that I thought were interesting because for them, it was their everyday life.

And I do think that's such an important point to make that as much as there is power in telling your own story and having that agency and having that control over the story, there is something to be said for the ability of an external provider or an external contractor to be able to articulate and get to the center of what makes the work so special and in this case, what makes it relevant in this wider context that you were trying to get to.

Candice Jordan: Absolutely.

Matt Pearl: I know we've been talking a lot about the genesis of the project. Let's dive into a little bit just what you can share about Rooted yourself. Obviously I know all this because I put it all together, but for folks watching and listening to this, tell us about Rooted, tell us the basics of what goes on in the documentary and anything you'd like to share about it.

Candice Jordan:

Yeah. So I will say Rooted is one of my favorite projects, so I love talking about it because again, I love storytelling. I mean, I use it every day in my work. I think that people love to know about people and I understand them so they can make a determination whether they are going to like them. If they like them, they want to champion and cheer them on along their journey. And what I appreciated most about the final product, and even as we were thinking about what this would look like is the opportunity to follow three of our homeowners, right? Very different.

And I think the biggest thing for me is always that Habitat, people know what habitat does from a very 30,000 feet view. They don't know the work the way that we do. And oftentimes we are combating stereotypes, preconceived notions about not only the work that we do, but who we're serving.

And most people want to put our homeowners in a particular box, but they couldn't be more diverse and more different. And that to me was the big opportunity around Rooted was to say, we have three different homeowners who have very different journeys to homeownership. They have very different whys as to why this opportunity was so big for them and they have leaned into it very differently, all very great, compelling stories, but very different. And to me, that represents the thousands of homeowners that we have been able to elevate into home ownership is that everyone comes to us different.

You can't fit them in a box, but the impact we're able to make through them with them and partnership with them is so vast that it really is hard to capture in data, it's hard to capture in numbers. So we need opportunities like this for them to share what their journey to home ownership and having an Atlanta Habitat home has meant for them, how has changed the trajectory of their lives and their kids' lives, how it has helped them remain in Atlanta, a city that they all love and call home, which wouldn't happen under any other circumstance. And so I think for me, the biggest opportunity, and what I love most about this project is that this represents the diversity of people that we're able to support.

Matt Pearl: And when you say that word, it's diversity in just about every way you can imagine.

Candice Jordan: Every way.

Matt Pearl: And I think, and critically for this story too, three very different parts of Atlanta. So one of the things we talked about early in the process is that you can point to dozens of neighborhoods in Atlanta that are facing the challenges of figuring affordable housing. And in a lot of senses, each neighborhood kind of looks at itself as its own silo, and folks in the neighborhood don't always think of the folks living on the opposite end of the city who are facing those same challenges as being united.

And so part of the power of it was not just these three personal stories, but also three very different stories of Atlanta, neighborhoods that we covered, which was super cool, not just from the end product, but I could also say from the production standpoint, when just going around getting footage, I spent a lot of time with each of the three individuals, obviously, and went to various places with them and shared various experiences. Some people took me on rides along in their car and one person took me to church and it was a great time.

But again, as someone who's lived in Atlanta now 16 years myself, almost 17, I think I was somewhat surprised by just the nuance of the way that neighborhoods, even that are separated by four or five minutes in the car, just the way that they do each have their own identity and how that's reflected in the story of not just the homeowners, but the story of homeownership and affordable housing in those neighborhoods, yet connecting them to the wider story of the city.

Candice Jordan: That's so true. I think that that's what a lot of people don't understand or remember about Atlanta. Atlanta is a city full of small neighborhoods. They're so different and there is so much pride in this small corner of this massive city. And I think that's something that came through very clear in the story to say, no, I want to stay in my neighborhood and I grew up in this neighborhood. I grew up right around the corner. I know this church. I know this street. No one's going to take my house. This is my community. I'm not leaving. I'm not selling and I deserve to be here. There is that pride in home, but also community that I think comes true or comes through very, very true.

Matt Pearl: I would say if you're making the sales pitch for this kind of project, and obviously you don't act independently, right? You've got people who need to give you the green light on this sort of thing. And obviously I would hope that other folks listening to this can visualize what a documentary project might look like for them. I would think that part of the, and maybe the biggest selling point is the immersive-ness of a project like this where you really ...

And it's funny, it's not like we spent the entire time at Habitat builds or inside your headquarters. There were a few builds that we shot that make up maybe like a fifth or a sixth of the overall movie or the overall documentary, but really the immersiveness that you get is the immersive-ness of the lives of the people that you serve. And I think for a lot of nonprofits, even those two to three minute stories, as powerful as they can be, there's only so much you're able to show.

Candice Jordan: Yep. Yeah. I think that's so true. And I think even beyond that too, I think you're so right, the content that we have been able to produce, it brings some light into that homeowner and usually it's centered around the celebratory moment of their dedication, that the day that their house is functionally complete and that we are celebrating the end of this build in partnership with some community partner or corporate partner.

But we often don't have an opportunity to go beyond that to say there's so much more that happens beyond that day. When we welcome a new homeowner into home ownership and we close on their home, that's a 30-year commitment we're making to that individual and that family in that home. And we are there all along the way. We're there as they decide to start their own business or they decide to go back to school and further their education or fund the education of their kids. And that takes a lot longer to be able to paint that picture and really add perspective to what the opportunity is around this mission.

And I think the other part of the story too that I was really excited to come through through this documentary was that the things that people don't always like to talk about, Atlanta in history and the transition of the city and how it has over the last, I would say 30 years since the Olympics in 96 has completely changed and population sized growth movement as well as affordability. And so I think having context to that history is also a really critical part of the story and the journeys that our homeowners have been faced with because part of the challenge of them realizing home ownership has a lot to do with how the city has changed or opportunities have been denied to them over the course of generations.

Matt Pearl: We finished this project, basically this took up the bulk of winter, spring, and summer of 2025. And when we kind of parted ways after the project was completed, I knew you were going to have a screening and that was great. And really, I didn't know what else was going to come of it. And I'm not sure that you all did either.

And now we sit here at the start of 2026, and this has, I don't want to say it's taken on a life of its own, but it's definitely taken on a much more robust part. Taking on a life of its own. I mean, talk a little bit about just what you, in the few times you've screened this, what you've learned about the power of this and how you're utilizing it now.

Candice Jordan: Yeah. So you're so right. So in my mind, how we would use this tool is when we think about our stakeholders, people we partner with, our donors, our board members, for them to really underline what they might understand about the work that we do and what we're asking them to be a part of and the outcomes that benefit the broader community when we get this right.

What we did not anticipate and was a really good outcome of this is we were able to screen this for the first time at our, what we call our Inside the House event. This is essentially our State of Atlanta Habitat annual meeting that allows our CEO, Rosalyn Merrick, to share perspective on the vision for the organization over the next couple of years. And in this case, our next strategic plan and really bring our stakeholder community along with us and what we're trying to do and how they can be a part of it.

This year we did things a little different. We said, "You know what? We have this amazing documentary. Let's spend 15 minutes premiering this documentary in a room full of friends and supporters and spark a conversation." And we had an amazing panel of experts to share perspective, an extension to what was shared within the documentary.

And the conversation was, I could not have scripted a better conversation in the room and the questions that were raised. Well, after the event, we were getting all kind of requests to say, "I want to bring this documentary to my organization. I want my staff to see this. I want my entire organization. Where are you guys showing this again?" And so instantly we were like, "Oh, wait a minute, this thing could have a life of its own. What do we want to do with this? This is beyond just being a fundraising tool or an advocacy tool. This could really have legs and really help us communicate what we've been trying to share across our community and the work that we're trying to do."

So instantly, my team went into action to create a full toolkit on how to use this opportunity. We have a whole webpage and everything now because we made the decision to enter it in a couple of film festivals, we aren't yet showing it publicly. That is the goal later this spring, but we are doing fulfilling one off requests to show this and create conversation. And so it's been really, really exciting leaning into this and having people also be excited about this project, this baby that we birthed last year. And I am really, really excited to see how we continue to use this as a tool to spark conversations.

Matt Pearl: So as we kind of wind down, and I'm so excited for everything you just said, by the way, I'm so, so excited to be a part of this rollout and see how it unfolds and how it blossoms. I would love to hear for anyone thinking about going down this road for their nonprofit, from a buy-in standpoint, from generating buy-in from the other leaders who might need to sign off on a project like this, I'm curious, what was your process in doing that and what were the conversations that, the questions that you had to answer before moving forward with this? And looking back, what would you say would be your pitch now, knowing what you know about what it has done and what's meant for Atlanta Habitat?

Candice Jordan: Yeah, no. So it's so funny because our CFO, he's amazing, but he hates to see me coming because he knows I'm going to ask for something. And because I wear two hats within the organization, fundraising and marketing, I'm like spending and raising, spending and raising. But because of that, he usually trusts that when I come and ask for an investment in a project that I see the value of it beyond the payment, the investment that we're making financially. So he usually is like, "All right, well, tell me how you're going to use it. " Which for us, this was good timing to do this in that we were launching into a new capital campaign this year. We just closed down development construction within our first plan development community, Browns Mill Village, and we will now be launching in our next plan development, Langston Park.

And we are really leaning into this project-based fundraising opportunity as it comes to our plan development. And so I was able to make the case to him to say, "As we are launching into a new campaign and I have to go raise a whole lot of money, this is going to be a critical tool." When I come into the room, people assume I'm going to ask them for money, but for them to see the outcome, the impact through the voices of who we're serving, that's a whole different story. That's a whole different conversation and a lot more compelling.

So I was able to easily make the case to say, "This is a great tool that we can use as we're going into rooms and trying to raise big dollars to fund this big project. We have to make the investment now. We'll get it back tenfold." And so it wasn't easy yes in that moment, but for us it was he trusts when I want to make a big investment in projects like this, that we could really leverage it to extend opportunities for the organization, but also it makes sense.

As we've seen a lot of success and the smaller ways that we've been able to storytell and what it has meant for our brand awareness, he definitely has really seen the benefit there. So it wasn't that hard of a sale for me, but it just made sense.

Matt Pearl: And now looking back on the process, what would you say to folks who might want to bring a concept like this to their CFO or their executive director?

Candice Jordan: Yeah. You know what? I think when it comes to mission work and when it comes to creating awareness for issues that we hold close to us, the best way, and this is going back to what we all understand, a picture says a thousand words, to be able to do that through a video, through content to this level, it's hard to put a dollar on the impact that it can make down the line. So I think it's, for me, it's always been easier for me to really get into a room when I have qualitative and quantitative data on the work that we're doing and in partnership with our stakeholders who are part of this conversation. It's harder for me to do that by myself, but to be able to have a tool to tell that story and folks can start coming with their own solutions and sparking action in their own minds, that you can't create a much better response than that.

So I just think it's something that's worth the investment. And I think the most important part of it is really understanding what it could do for expanding messaging and brand and generating conversation that's really critical for carrying the work forward. So for me, it's just an easy yes. It just makes sense. I think nonprofits have to get to a point to where we think differently. We're thinking with a different mind. Companies do it every single day. They spend lots of dollars making sure that their brand has visibility in the communities that they want to reach, and there's a reason for that. So I often empower and encourage nonprofit leaders to also ... We have to start thinking that way also.

Matt Pearl: One of the things you said that I don't think that I even anticipated was this idea that you've had people coming to you asking to show screenings of it, whether or not however you decide to license that or charge for that, whatever that is, I think there is an intangible value in Habitat becoming this source of this powerful conversation starter and conversation changer. So you're not just in the story, you're not just in the documentary and you're not just hosting screenings, but you now become some organization that others think of when they're thinking of who has a unique position on this. And you've got this piece of content that is 15 minutes long, it's substantive, it does something that very few other organizations, even of your size, have to offer.

Candice Jordan: Yep. No, and that's so true. And then you think about many nonprofit organizations don't have the resources to have full marketing teams, but there usually are dollars to at least earmark for a one-off project. And so if that's the only thing you do is you think about your marketing budget is to invest in a project that can help give you the visibility, help you raise dollars, help spark conversation, and then potentially could be a source of revenue. I mean, that is so amazing. And so that's such a big opportunity for nonprofits to consider.

Matt Pearl: Beautiful. Well, obviously I can't wait till we finally do get to show this publicly, but in the meantime, Candace Jordan, Chief Development Officer for Atlanta Habitat, this has been a wonderful conversation. Before I let you go, I'll ask you that famous last question that all reporters love to ask. Is there anything we haven't talked about that you would like to add?

Candice Jordan: No, this has been amazing. Matt, I think the world of you and the work that you do. And so this has been a great opportunity to really partner in such a special way. And so thank you for believing in this project and for helping us bring it over the finish line. I think for those who are considering a similar project, I say go for it and at least have the conversation. And thinking about all the work, there's so many worthwhile causes that are not only just Atlanta, but everywhere. And I think about ways that we can continue to elevate opportunities for folks to get involved, I think is a critical opportunity when we think about taking on projects like this. And so there's so many wins across the board that I'm really excited to continue to be a part of.

Matt Pearl: Right. Candice Jordan of Atlanta Habitat, thank you so much for sharing your story and sharing your time.

Candice Jordan: Thank you for the opportunity.

Matt Pearl: And that is Episode15 of Dot Org. If you found this helpful and want others to hear it too, a great rating or review wherever you get your podcast goes a long way. Please take the time if you can. And check out my work at Pearl Impact Media. Video storytelling can be so beneficial for organizations. I would love to work with yours. Book a free consultation right now at pearlimpactmedia.com. All right, friends, I am Matt Pearl. This has been Dot Org. Thank you for listening. We'll see you next time.