Welcome back to our two-part blog series on Ethical Storytelling, which kicked off last fall with a blog providing an introduction to the topic. Whereas that article provided some background and definitions (the “what” and the “why”), this one delves more into the “how” of ethical storytelling by providing examples from two Elevate partners.
Storytelling is crucial to any work to dismantle systemic barriers to opportunity. Research shows that people transported into narratives are more likely to adopt beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors implied by a story. For nonprofits that work with children, families, and communities that have experienced systemic oppression, it can be hard to find the right balance when crafting stories that focus on the barriers caused by those systems, such as poverty, educational inequities, homelessness, and food insecurity. It’s important for nonprofit organizations to have an intentional approach to gathering information to tell their clients’ stories and invest in their staff’s storytelling capacity.
More specifically, nonprofits must use stories to create emotional connections while also highlighting the root causes of the disparities their clients face. It’s especially important when telling stories of communities that face oppression with funders, decision-makers, and other stakeholders who might not have had the same lived experience as the nonprofit’s clients. If done well, storytelling will counter stereotypes and biases that exist in society and avoid exploiting the clients’ experiences. It will also avoid relying on harmful narratives that inadvertently prevent progress within the communities the nonprofit exists to serve. If nonprofits are to fulfill their job to improve society, they must center equity in everything they do, including the language and stories they use.
Nonprofits regularly communicate their purpose and vision to funders, decision-makers, advocates, and other stakeholders to attract the support they need to accomplish their goals. They must be able to tell the story of the people and communities they focus on (the need), their great potential (the vision), and the best way to remove barriers preventing them from achieving that potential (the activities/strategies) and positive outcomes. One way nonprofits are beginning to make this shift is by adopting ethical or trauma-informed storytelling.
When setting out to learn from individuals’ lived experiences, nonprofit professionals must approach this in a way that recognizes the impact of gathering stories from those who have experienced systemic barriers to opportunities and trauma. Focusing on clients’ potential instead of the hardship they have endured can be empowering and provides an opportunity for them to help others who are experiencing similar challenges. By sharing their full humanity, they can change people’s perspectives for the better. Nonprofits that successfully leverage ethical or trauma-informed storytelling can communicate their purpose by sharing impactful stories from their clients’ perspectives while helping new audiences better understand the issues they work on.
Importantly, nonprofits have a duty to use and share stories in a way that is compassionate and honest to the lived experiences of the communities they work with. How can nonprofits make sure they are fulfilling this duty? Two Elevate clients have generously provided some information about the strategies they use to best share the change they seek.
Children’s Law Center
In collaboration with DC children, families, community partners, and pro bono attorneys, Children’s Law Center (CLC) DC uses the law to solve children’s urgent problems today and improve the systems that will affect their lives tomorrow. Their vision is a world where every child has a stable family, good health, a quality education, and one in which racism, trauma, and poverty are eliminated as barriers to success.
To shape ethical and empowering storytelling, attorneys and social workers on staff work collaboratively with the communications team to connect families who are interested in sharing their stories. Taking what has been learned from doing this work for years, CLC now uses a detailed consent process. The children and families that CLC interviews have full authority to decide what can be shared from their experience, where it can be shared (i.e., online, print, social media), and what it can be used for (i.e., fundraising, policy advocacy, general outreach, etc.).
In crafting the stories of children and families with consent, the organization aims to share more than just the specific time period when CLC worked with the family or child. Stories include details on how a family advocated for changes before they began working with CLC, how a child is doing multiple years after working together, or fun personal details about the child’s interests to make it more than just the challenge or problem at hand.
Education Law Center
Education Law Center (ELC)-PA ensures access to a quality public education for all children in Pennsylvania. ELC-PA is a known resource for parents, child-serving professionals, and advocates in Pennsylvania to call, providing right-based information and advice regarding public education matters. ELC-PA is also a leader in public education advocacy for the legal and policy changes they have helped secure, focusing on equal access to quality public education, fair school funding, and dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline.
Alongside staff, organizational leadership continuously assesses ELC-PA’s language (in job descriptions, resources, newsletters, organizational policies, and more) to ensure it is inclusive and affirming to all clients and staff. To help staff make decisions about the language they use, ELC-PA’s Communications team created a tool to help them shape strengths-based messaging.
The ELC-PA Messaging Checklist asks:
- Have the systems and disproportionalities been highlighted and explained (name the root causes), or is the reader asked to fill in gaps with preexisting assumptions?
- Is my language blaming the student/caregiver for the unjust circumstance?
- Is the language I used how I want my loved ones to be described?
Trauma-Informed Storytelling
Some nonprofits have expanded ethical storytelling, which focuses more on consent processes and how stories are written, to include a focus on trauma-informed storytelling. This practice sets clearer boundaries, such as: 1) ensuring nonprofits aren’t interviewing children or families who are currently in crisis, 2) waiting until the work with the client is over (e.g., a legal case is closed), and 3) having social workers or other support staff be available for the interviewee. Sometimes, the act of sharing a story can reopen painful and traumatic memories, making this step important depending on the nonprofit’s focus area. To dive further into ethical and trauma-informed storytelling, check out the three-part webinar series by the Pro Bono Institute.
We hope this helps you further prioritize sharing the full humanity of the people and communities your work focuses on. For more information on the Children’s Law Center’s ethical storytelling process, including sample consent forms, go here. For information on ELC-PA, go here.
