Data Storytelling

How Storytelling Amplified Children’s Mental Health Impact

Transforming data into a powerful story proving how collective giving accelerates impact in children’s mental and behavioral health.

Our applied proprietary methodology.

Empowered Collaboration

United cross-functional teams of clinicians, leaders, internal marketing, and Oliven Labs strategists to uncover the human stories behind complex data and ultimately turn insights into action.

Curated, Human-centric Design

Design approach was centered on empathy and clarity, translating metrics into visuals and stories that resonate across every infographic, wireframe, and interaction; crafted to engage audiences emotionally while communicating impact with precision.

Strategic Data Intelligence

Combined rigorous analysis with storytelling to make data meaningful and connected metrics to real-world outcomes to show donors, partners, and stakeholders the tangible difference their support makes across children, families, and communities.

Healthcare Industry Expertise

With deep pediatric healthcare knowledge, narratives were crafted that were evidence-based, clinically accurate, credible, and compelling to all stakeholders.

Children's Wisconsin's Mental and Behavioral Health Department provides expert care for children and teens statewide. They treat conditions ranging from common struggles to complex psychiatric issues, with award-winning care coordination and ongoing expansion of services. A transformative contribution came from Jeff Yabuki, whose $20 million gift from the Yabuki Family Foundation allowed the department to expand its reach and enhance the scope of mental and behavioral health services for children and families. This pivotal support has powered large-scale innovation, making the department a statewide leader in pediatric mental health care and directly advancing accessible, quality treatment for more young people.

CHALLENGE

Children’s Wisconsin had dashboards tracking the results of Jeff Yabuki’s gift to expand Mental and Behavioral Health (MBH) services, but numbers alone couldn’t capture the real story. As a major donor review approached, Yabuki wanted to spark his donor network and show how collective giving could drive lasting change. The data showed outcomes, but not what truly matters: how one child’s care strengthens their family, uplifts communities, and transforms systems of support. The challenge was to turn complex healthcare metrics into a story that moved hearts and inspired action, an artifact that proved what’s possible when donors come together. Because investing in children’s mental and behavioral health doesn’t just change one life, it changes the future.

Turn numbers into meaning that inspires action
and amplifies philanthropy

Donor Engagement

70% of donors disengage when data lacks emotional stories

The existing data lacked emotional resonance, offering information but not the inspiration needed to activate donors or fuel collective generosity.

Data Disconnect

85% of healthcare data goes unused without narrative context

Metrics lived in dashboards without context, showing outcomes but failing to reveal the real human stories and how MBH donations and investors transform lives, families, and communities.

Impact Translation

42% donor retention increase through storytelling

There was no unified narrative to connect insights to mission, leaving the broader, system-wide impact of philanthropic support unseen and under-communicated.

SOLUTION

We needed a groundbreaking tool that empowers agents to control their portfolio during industry turbulence and communicate effectively with their clients. Through a deeply embedded partnership with ConnectureDRX, Oliven Labs supported the complete evolution of Active Analytics—from ideation to launch—creating a platform that revolutionized how agents lead, manage, and serve seniors.

Our Unique Process

Interactive Discovery

Facilitated a cross-functional team of clinical and leadership stakeholders to uncover the core story behind the data, connecting metrics with mission and clarifying the narrative they wanted to champion.

Integrated Expertise

Leveraging 20+ years of combined experience, our multi-disciplinary team drove holistic problem-solving across data, design, and strategy, seamlessly moving from discovery to delivery while maintaining both creative excellence and strategic alignment within a one-month timeline.

Embedded Collaboration

Grounded the team in analytics and human stories, then co-created an emotionally resonant narrative through interactive sessions that surfaced insights, prioritized gaps, and shaped the story’s framework.

Rapid Design & Development

Produced wireframes that set bold, energetic, and empowering  visual direction, then partnered with expert writers to shape a compelling voice for the mental and behavioral health crisis.

Empathy-Driven Insights

Delivered a fresh, human-centered take that combined empathy with evidence, resulting in a narrative that inspired emotion, empowered action, and deeply resonated with multi-level stakeholders.

Expert Content Strategy

Transformed the brand's voice into a bold, action-driven rally cry, leveraging our writers' deep understanding of healthcare nuances to craft messaging that resonated with clinical audiences and set a new benchmark that energized stakeholders.

Actionable Insights Uncovered

60%
improved comprehension with narrative visualization

Data Storytelling

We proved that gathering metrics is only half the equation; when organizations can transform data into compelling narratives, numbers gain meaning, and meaning inspires people and communities to invest in change.

5X
higher donations from stories over raw data

Insight-to-Action Translation

Transforming complex data into clear, compelling stories bridges the gap between insight and action, empowering donors, teams, and communities to understand impact and invest in meaningful change.

3X
higher donor conversion from emotional stories

Amplifying Action

Clear, emotional storytelling and scalable mission-driven design rallied donors, teams, and partners, strengthening collaboration and creating a repeatable framework that amplified impact for everyone involved.

45%
engagement amplification with multi-channel storytelling

Ecosystem Roadmap

Realized true activation required moving beyond a single deliverable to a multi-touch ecosystem uniting digital, kiosk touchpoints, storytelling, and immersive interactive and augmented reality experiences to fully bring the mission to life.

RESULTS + IMPACT

Within one month, Oliven Labs delivered an impact infographic that bridged analytics and storytelling, giving the mental and behavioral health clinicians and leadership a powerful centerpiece for their quarterly review with Jeff Yabuki. The piece illuminated how one child’s care creates ripple effects across families, communities, and systems, demonstrating the far-reaching power of philanthropic investment. The process opened teams to what’s possible when data and storytelling work together, showing how the emotional power of narrative can move people from understanding to action. By uniting measurable outcomes with human stories, Oliven Labs created a clear pathway that connected every data point back to purpose—motivating generosity, inspiring collective action, and fueling a growing movement to transform children’s mental and behavioral health.

96%
Mental Health waitlist reduction
2X
more kids cared for
93%
more mental health center calls answered
972%
more suicide screenings provided
"Working with Oliven Labs will infuse a lot of energy into your project. The team conducted a tremendous amount of research and involved us in every step of the way. What I was most impressed with were the deliverables which we could easily take action on for developing our implementation plans."

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Children's Wisconsin