Content

Craft stories that captivate your audience.

Craft stories about specific people in specific settings and situations that bring the ideas in your framework to life.

A photo of a woman speaking using hand gestures.

In this section, you’ll craft stories about specific people in specific settings and situations that bring the ideas in your framework to life. As a reminder, this approach is meant to make your storytelling more impactful, because all of your stories work together to convey a similar set of ideas that motivate your audience.

While you aim to communicate a consistent set of ideas, there are many kinds of stories you could tell. You could tell stories about the people whose lives are directly affected by your work—and the people who join forces with them to create change. You could tell stories that show the human consequences of the problem your organization addresses—and the solutions that give people hope. Different stories can emphasize different ideas and information, depending on your issue, audiences, and objectives.

Strategic Stories

The basic approach to crafting a strategic story is simple: You put people, goals, problems, and solutions in the picture—in ways that convey the ideas in your narrative framework. See the examples below.

Example: Anti-Poverty Program

Narrative Framework:

People: Hardworking people
Goal: Have a good home and provide for their families
Problem: Jobs don’t pay enough, so they struggle to make ends meet
Solution: Tools that help them learn valuable skills and earn more

Strategic Story

Michael used to sleep on the street. Now he builds homes.

With the responsibility of a family, Michael worked hard at low-wage jobs to provide a home and education for his daughter. But he did not earn enough money to keep a roof over their heads. He signed up for a job training program that teaches high-demand skills like carpentry and plumbing. Now, he gets on-the-job training with good pay through an apprenticeship with a residential construction company. With a steady income, he found an affordable apartment and opened a savings account to put away money.

This is a short, simple story—but it speaks to each of the main ideas in the framework:

With the responsibility of a family, Michael worked hard (people) at low-wage jobs to provide a home and education (goal) for his daughter. But he did not earn enough (problem) money to keep a roof over their heads. He signed up for a job training program (solution) that teaches high-demand skills like carpentry and plumbing. Now, he gets on-the-job training with good pay through an apprenticeship with a residential construction company. With a steady income, he found an affordable apartment and opened a savings account to put away money.

Example: EO=

Narrative Framework:

People: Small-business owners
Goal: Build a strong, successful business
Problem: Motivating employees and planning for the future can be difficult
Solution: Employee ownership is a multi-purpose tool to unlock many business benefits

Strategic Story

Owner finds the perfect buyers for her business—its employees.

After 20 years in corporate life, Marion Dunbar decided to become a small-business owner (People) and purchased Happy Earth Cleaning, an environmentally friendly cleaning company. From the beginning, Marion sought to build a successful business that would do right by the environment, their employees, and their community. (Goal) Their mantra was simple: “A People Company That Cleans.”

After eight successful years, she started to think about selling the business. But she wasn’t sure how she would find a buyer, or what would happen to her business after they were gone. She worried that a buyer might dismantle the “people first” culture they’d built, or might steal their customer list and lay off employees. (Problem)

Ultimately, Marion realized that converting Happy Earth to a worker cooperative was the best thing for the business, the employees, and her own peace of mind. As a worker co-op, they can retain their client base, while giving employees control over their own growth, wages, and benefits. And employees profit, too, from a renewed sense of ownership and purpose that makes for a strong, successful business. (Solution)

TIP: You can see other examples from the EO= campaign to explore how stories about all kinds of small businesses worked together to convey a similar set of ideas about the benefits of employee ownership.

Exercise

In our workbook, you’ll use a grid like the one below to craft a strategic story, drawing from your narrative framework. On the left, you’ll see the ideas from the narrative framework. On the right, you’ll see how the user brings those ideas to life. This tool adds several elements to the narrative framework that help you flesh out your story, including a lesson and a call to action.

The lesson is the big idea you want people to take away from your story. Storytelling research has shown that stating your takeaway up front can help your audience understand and remember the point of the story.

The call to action is an invitation to take a specific action. When you have people’s attention, you need to seize the moment and tell them how they can help.

There are many ways to tell a story. Your story could be told in first person, meaning the person is telling their own story, or in third person, with a narrator telling it. You might include a lot of detail that paints a vivid picture of the people, places, and things.

Here are the questions you should be asking yourself:

- Who is this story for?
- What do you need them to do?
- What’s the big idea you want people to take away?
- What do they hope to achieve?
- What obstacle(s) do they face?
- How do they overcome the obstacle(s)?
- How are lives changing as a result?
- What specific action can people take to support the cause?

Example

The sample story below is for an organization that recruits volunteers to help people with low incomes apply for government programs that can help them achieve financial security.

Who is this story for?
Potential volunteers
What do you need them to do?
Sign up to receive information and application
What’s the big idea you want people to take away? Our programs can help people break the cycle of poverty.

People across the country are striving to make a better life for themselves and their families, but don’t have the opportunity to achieve financial security. Our volunteers connect people to proven tools they can use to build a better life.
Who are the people in the story? Hardworking people

David grew up in a family that didn’t have much. He was raised by an aunt who worked at a minimum wage job, and she didn’t own a home or have any savings to help put him through college. He did well in school, played sports, and was in the Boy Scouts.
What do they hope to achieve? Have a good home and provide for their families
He dreamed of becoming a doctor and got into college.
What obstacle(s) do they face? Jobs don’t pay enough, so they struggle to make ends meet.

But like many children from families with no savings, he couldn’t afford the cost and had to drop out. Instead of becoming a doctor, David had no degree and could only get low-wage jobs.
When he started his own family, his income was just enough to support his children. With no money to save or invest in his children’s future, David’s kids faced the same uncertain prospects he faced.
How do they overcome the obstacle(s)? Tools that help them learn valuable skills and earn more
David worked with one of our volunteers, Josee, who talked with him about his goals and helped him map out an action plan.
Together, they located a job training program for electricians and a course in money management, so he could learn to save and invest.
How are lives changing as a result Earning more and saving for the future
David learned new skills, got an apprenticeship, and is already earning more money.
He opened an account to put away some money, and applied for support from a government program that matched his contributions.
Eventually, he hopes to save enough to put a down payment on a small house.
David only needed a jumpstart to make progress toward his dreams of owning a home and creating a better life for his children.
What specific action can people take to support the cause? Volunteer to help people access programs like this
You can help people reach for their dreams—as a volunteer who works with low-income people to apply for programs like these.

TIP: Pictures make your stories more powerful. You can also use this tool to think about images that bring different aspects of the story to life.

Stories About Impact

This lesson takes you deeper into the art and science of storytelling—with a tool you can use to plot out a compelling story that will keep people engaged. It’s designed to help you tell stories about the change you make and how you make it, which can inspire others to learn more and take action.

The Social Impact Story Map is adapted from the Hero’s Journey, a tried-and-true model based on multi-cultural research that is used by authors, filmmakers, and others to create stories that capture people’s attention and imagination.

As shown, the map has four main sections. Each section contains specific steps you can use to plot your story from beginning to end. It’s a flexible formula, so you don’t need to complete every step.

Your story might be about work in progress—and that’s perfectly fine. Stories about people working toward a future goal can be just as compelling as “success” stories about goals already achieved.

Example: charity: water

A moving video by charity: water follows this model to share the story of families in Malawi who worked together to bring clean water to their village.

To help you craft your story, we use examples from this video throughout this section.

Before we dive into designing your story, let’s answer a few questions that will set the tone for your story.

Character and Setting

Who is telling your story?
Tip: It’s important to consider who will tell the story and how their point of view will affect the narrative. Is the narrator part of the story, or external to it? Is he or she watching the story unfold, or looking back on something that has already happened?

Who is the main character of your story?
Tip: The most effective stories are told from the perspective of an individual. Describe the person and the situation they find themselves in at the beginning of the story.

Who are the other characters in your story?
Tip: Describe other individuals who play meaningful roles in the story.

Where does your story take place?
Tip: This may be a specific place like a particular city or it may be a place that sets context and tone like rural versus urban, a particular setting like a hospital, a refugee camp, or a convention. The key is to give people somewhere they can visualize.

Creating Your Social Impact Story Map

This guide helps you in plotting out a story that will keep people engaged. It asks questions about the people, doubts or concerns facing them, steps toward a solution, obstacles they encounter along the way, allies who join the cause, and ultimately the impact they create and lessons learned.

1. Eyes Opened: How were your main character’s eyes opened to the need?
  Tip: Recreate the moment when the person realized that something needed to be done. This can help your audience experience the “eye-opening” moment as well. You could think of it as the problem or solution.
  charity: water The water had always been bad.
2. Doubts Arise: What doubts or concerns did they have prior to taking action?
  Tip: State the doubts or concerns in the voice of the main character: What would he or she say?
  charity: water This dirty stream was the only water source we had ever known.
3. Solutions Emerge: What idea, inspiration or change occurred that pointed toward a possible solution
  charity: water One day, the villagers heard that a drilling rig could be used to find a new source of water. But a deep ravine stood between their village and the road that the rig would need to travel.
4. First Steps: What was the first step taken by your main character? What was their ultimate goal?
  charity: water The villagers came together to discuss how to build a road around the ravine.
1. Obstacles Encountered: What challenges or obstacles did the characters encounter?
  charity: water It would take months of hard work to build a road; some doubted it could be done.
2. Allies Join: What allies joined the work? What role did they play?
  Tip: Show people involved in creating solutions to their own problems—as well as others who supported the cause.
  charity: water Families throughout the village contributed materials and labor to work on the road. This allowed the rigs to access their region.
1. Action Taken: What other actions or steps were taken after the allies joined?
  charity: water The people of the village and the rig workers joined forces to transport the rig, set it up and drill for water.
2. Breakthrough occurs: What breakthrough occurred that helped the characters realize that they could overcome the obstacle?
  Example: When the drilling rig hit water.
1. Lives are Changed: What was the impact on people’s lives?
  charity: water The people of the area had access to clean, safe water for drinking, cooking and cleaning.
2. Lessons Shared: Are there lessons to be shared from the story?
  Tip: Think of a specific lesson that the audience can take away from your story—and a specific action they can take to help the cause.
  charity: water included a strong call to action: “You can help us bring clean water to communities like this.”
3. Call to Action: What actions can your audience take to help advance the cause?
  Tip: Your story has inspired and informed people—what can they do to help?