Pulling Back the Curtain on Narrative Change

1. Connection has to be intentionally created—not assumed. Even with substantial investment in shared experiences, travel, and experiential learning, the Fellows still reported that they didn’t know one another deeply enough to collaborate across differences and beyond the program. The story exposes the gap between bringing people together and actually creating connection when there are significant degrees of difference.
2. As program decision makers, listening is the starting point for meaningful connection. Listening isn't passive—it is a way of discovering what a community needs and who people can become together.
3. Difference creates both the challenge and the opportunity. The Fellowship deliberately brings together people with very different cultures, identities, languages, abilities, and ways of thinking and working. That diversity makes connection harder, but it is also the reason connection matters: the goal isn't simply to make people feel connected, but to create the conditions for collaboration across difference.
4. Storytelling needs both a dedicated space and to be integrated into the program environment. Stories need to connect with both hearts and heads. Even when the Fellows had powerful stories and important work, those stories weren't necessarily reaching people outside the program in ways that connected emotionally and intellectually. This suggests that effective communication isn't merely about telling people's stories; it's about finding ways for others to genuinely see themselves, feel something, and understand why the work matters.

The overarching takeaway:
If we want people to work together across difference, we have to listen first, understand who's in the room, how they see the world and their work, and what they share. Storytelling is how that listening becomes real. When we help leaders learn how to tell their stories well, we show people how to see themselves and each other beyond their assumptions. The best storytelling practice doesn't just invite connection; it creates pathways for deep engagement, leadership, and action.

1. Start with listening before developing the communications strategy. MACP didn't begin by writing a storytelling guide. They listened—to program staff, grantees, peers, sector research, and community perspectives—to understand where their language and practices were falling short. The framework emerged from that listening rather than being imposed on the organization.
2. Equity has to shape the process of storytelling, not just the language of the final product. Ethical storytelling isn't simply about using more inclusive words. MACP asked deeper questions about who chooses the story, who gets represented, who gets credit, who is doing the storytelling, and how power operates between funder and grantee. Their three principles—equity, empathy, and authenticity—became a way of working, not merely messaging guidelines.
3. Communications can shift from a reactive service function to a strategic organizational role. The "Conductor" metaphor captures an important change: instead of simply responding to requests, the communications team began connecting ideas, people, and organizational priorities and helping shape the larger story. The narrative framework gave the team a shared philosophy for doing that work strategically.
4. Good storytelling requires co-creation—and co-creation requires time. The Raptor Center example demonstrates what this looks like in practice: the partner helped determine what story would be useful, shaped it throughout development, and influenced decisions about language and imagery. The team ultimately recognized that this approach may mean telling fewer stories, but creating stories that are more useful, responsible, and durable for both the organization and its partners.
    

The Overarching Takeaway:
“How do we change the way we work so that better, more equitable stories become possible?” The framework is valuable not because it provides a set of storytelling rules, but because the team designed an ethical process. How they tell stories is as important as what’s in the story.

Additional Resources and Story Examples: 

• Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies Narrative Framework
• A PHI workforce innovation is reimagining care for older adults
• Building connections and community in support of wildlife

1. Great ideas sometimes need to wait. A strong communications culture can’t thrive until the organization, leadership, and external environment are ready for it. A shift toward a more public voice can take years and persistence is necessary until the organization reaches the point where communications advances the mission.
2. Reputation and voice are strategic assets deserving thoughtful stewardship.
   Barr's evolution shows how communications moved from essentially nonexistent to being viewed as central to achieving the organization’s mission. New leadership with a new perspective about the mission-critical role of communications and ready to be the face and voice of the institution created an opening for a sea change.
3. Culture change requires trust building, and mission is the North Star. The transition from an anonymous foundation to a more visible one took understanding that greater transparency was actually in service of impact against the mission, and could be pursued in ways that upheld values—even humility. 
    

The Overarching Takeaway:
Effective strategic communication is less about getting the organization to communicate more and more about recognizing when communication can advance the mission, demonstrating that value through action, and patiently building the trust that secures communications a seat at the leadership table.

Additional Resources:

• Creating a Communications Culture, Stanford Social Innovation Review

More about Stefan and the Barr Foundation:

• Boston's Bar Foundation Raises Its Profile, The Boston Globe
• Ali Noorani will replace Jim Canales as Barr Foundation President, The Boston Globe
   

1. The person matters as much as the story. A compelling story can change how audiences understand homelessness, pets, and family—but the story itself cannot be the sole focus. The person who lived the experience must remain at the center. Ethical storytelling asks not only “Is this a powerful story?” but “What does this experience mean for the person sharing it?”
2. Ethical storytelling requires choice, preparation, and agency. My Dog is My Home prepares storytellers, ensuring they know who will be in the room, why the story has been requested, what the storyteller can choose not to share, and what they hoped would happen. Consent is more than permission—it requires informed choice.
3. Co-creation can transform storytelling from extraction into relationship. Rather than finding people with compelling experiences and putting them onstage, My Dog Is My Home built an ongoing community: workshops, writing, practice, coaching, feedback, and peer support. Later, former storytellers returned as mentors and helped shape the formal program. The relationship became part of the work rather than simply a means to obtain a story.
4. Lived experience is expertise—and storytelling should give something back. The storytellers weren't defined by homelessness; they told stories about their identities, relationships, families, and lives before, during, and beyond their experiences. The fact that one storyteller was disappointed when the workshops ended reveals an important measure of success: the storytelling experience itself had value to the storyteller. Ethical storytelling should benefit the person sharing their experience, not only the organization using it.

The Overarching Takeaway:
If we want storytelling to change systems, we have to change the way we treat the people whose stories we tell. The story's power comes not simply from what is told, but from who gets to tell it, how they are prepared, how much choice they have, how they are supported, and what they receive in return.
 

Resources on trauma-informed storytelling:

• Trauma-Informed Storytelling: Consent and Waiver Sample
• Trauma-Informed Storytelling: Creating a Trauma-Informed Storytelling SOP
• Trauma-Informed Storytelling: Storyteller Readiness Checklist
• Trauma-Informed Storytelling: Story Development
• Trauma-Informed Storytelling: Story Structure Cheat Sheet
• Trauma-Informed Storytelling: Emotion Check-In
• Trauma-Informed Storytelling: Memory Timeline