Funding Narrative Change - How Communities Are Shaping And Wielding Narrative Power

Also catalogued elsewhere

This report shows how communities build narrative power by owning and telling their own stories. Funders must invest long-term in community-led storytelling, platforms, and strategy. Strong local narratives shift public views and drive policy change.

We identified three key components that make up community narrative power:

1. Stories by and about the community
2. Intentional efforts to both promote narratives that uplift the community and push back against those that cause harm
3. A method through which to accrue narrative power and exercise it moving forward

For funders:

1. Back community control and ownership of production.

Building narrative power requires consistent creation and distribution of stories,and it is far more effective when the community controls both.

We found that exercising community narrative power is often easier than building and maintaining it. Without ongoing commitment, investment, and ideally ownership of the assets, the reach and impact of community narrative efforts remain limited.

Three of the examples we explored—Elevated Chicago’s TikTok series, BeGreat Together’s DocuCourse videos, and Ujima Theater in Buffalo— demonstrate the advantages of community control over the means of cultural production. While not feasible for every organization, this is the optimal approach for ensuring narrative power stays rooted in the community. It is akin to the difference between owning and renting; if you can afford it, owning ensures that your investment and its growth benefit you, rather than someone else.

Community ownership creates lasting assets that can be leveraged for advocacy, engagement, and sustained change. Funders and organizations can strengthen community narrative power by prioritizing investments in cultural tools and platforms that remain under community stewardship.

2. Start with the narrative, not just the story.

We found that while storytelling is a requisite for building narrative power, it must be anchored in intentional narrative strategy that is distinct from strategic communications. Even before collecting or identifying stories, aligning around the desired narrative is critical; without this, it is possible to create a robust communications infrastructure that fails to build narrative power. Organizations need funding for this proactive planning, to intentionally assess the narrative landscape they operate in and clarify their goals.

In the projects we examined, the most effective efforts incorporated narrative goals from the outset. In both case studies, storytelling was designed to serve clearly defined goals and narratives. For the DocuCourse Bails & Bonds, one goal was to pair a narrative of resilience with one of mutual aid—encouraging action by survivors of domestic violence without implying they must shoulder the burden alone. For Elevated Chicago, content creation was shaped by the organization’s narrative priorities, including shifting perceptions about how development can benefit communities of color.

3. Break the competition cycle, fund collaboration.

Some of the most impactful efforts, such as Leadership Counsel successfully defeating the ballot measure, relied on forming strong coalitions.

Broad coalitions amplify narrative impact by bringing together diverse perspectives and stories, extending a campaign’s reach and deepening its impact. Collaboration also enables resource-sharing, sparks creative content, and increases visibility across sectors.

Funders can play a critical role in fostering these partnerships, especially with unlikely allies. Providing long-term, collaborative funding—and making it clear that the goal is resource the whole network—can reduce competition for resources and encourage alignment. Building networks among funders, organizations, and communities helps pool resources, coordinate strategies, and ultimately, build and sustain long-term impact.

4. Narrative power is the long game, so fund it to last.

Community narrative power cannot be built, exercised, or sustained through one-off initiatives or short-term projects alone. It requires stable funding, consistent leadership, and a commitment to building on early wins over time. Short-term victories—like influencing statewide tax measures or local ordinances—are important, but they are only the beginning. Lasting change depends on long-term strategic storytelling, capacity development, and the structural support to keep these narratives alive. Without sustained investment, the infrastructure and relationships that make narrative power possible will erode.

In the projects we studied, costs varied widely, but the real determinant of impact wasn’t the price tag. What mattered most was the availability of funds to sustain the work. Funders should prioritize multi-year commitments and capacity-building grants over single-year projects. They should encourage organizations to plan for maintaining and scaling narrative efforts over a five-to-ten-year horizon, and then match those plans with the funding to realize them. Narrative change is a long game. We don’t stand a chance if we don’t stay in it together.