Funding Narrative Change
How Communities Are Winning by Telling Their Own Stories
New research shows how grassroots organizations are using everything from TikTok to documentary films to shift public narratives and drive real change.
Why This Matters for Organizers
- Stories Drive Change: Narrative power is as important as economic or political power
- Tools Are Accessible: You do not need Hollywood budgets—TikTok, podcasts, and community theater work
- Community Expertise: Those closest to the problems are best positioned to tell the stories
- Proven Strategies: Case studies show what works across different communities
- Funder Interest: Philanthropy is increasingly supporting narrative change work
What Is Narrative Power?
Narrative power is the ability to shape the stories people believe about themselves, their communities, and what is possible. It determines whose voices get heard, whose experiences count as legitimate, and what solutions seem reasonable.
The Convergence Partnership's new report, "Funding Narrative Change: How Communities are Shaping and Wielding Narrative Power," moves from theory to practice. It shows how community-led organizations are building and using narrative power to advance systemic change.
Three Types of Narrative Power
- Mass Culture: Stories told through art, film, music, and cultural expression
- Mass Media: Coverage in newspapers, TV, radio, and digital platforms
- Mass Movements: Messages from organizing campaigns and grassroots activism
We will not make significant change without building all three kinds of narrative power, ideally operating together. Our audiences should not be able to go anywhere without encountering our ideas and stories.
Real Examples: How Communities Are Building Narrative Power
BeGreat Together: DocuCourse
BeGreat Together created DocuCourse, an award-winning series of films and curriculum featuring Black and Latino community changemakers. The documentaries tackle everything from art advocacy to maternal health to environmental revitalization.
- Community members pick up cameras and tell their own stories
- Films weave together personal narratives with data about structural inequalities
- National recognition at film festivals from Hollywood to Philadelphia
- Stories reclaim and shift narratives about Black and Brown communities
Hutch in Harmony: Sketches of Reality
While originally launched to provide services, Hutch in Harmony is reshaping the narrative of leadership itself. They are cultivating leadership through care-centered approaches that challenge traditional power structures.
- Community picnics, voter education events, and March for Unity
- Sketches of Reality brings Black and Brown elders together to share life stories
- Creating space for sharing builds narrative power and deeper understanding
- Championing changemakers as leaders in their own right
Elevated Chicago: TikTok for Transit Justice
Elevated Chicago is fighting for transit equity using strategic communications on social media. They meet people where they are—on TikTok, Instagram, and other platforms—to build support for transportation justice.
- Using TikTok campaigns to reach younger audiences
- Making transit equity accessible and relatable through storytelling
- Building public will for policy changes
- Showing that organizing can happen anywhere, including social media
Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability
LCJA is working to influence public investments in transportation and land use planning by building community power among Black and Brown residents in California's Central Valley.
- Strategic communications on social media platforms
- Weekly op-eds in local newspapers
- Advocating for environmentally responsible transportation resources
- Centering the health of Central Valley residents
Key Strategies That Work
Community-Created Media
Train residents to create their own films, podcasts, and digital content rather than relying on outside media to tell their stories.
Arts and Culture
Use theater, music, visual art, and cultural events to engage community members and shift narratives through creative expression.
Social Media Campaigns
Meet people where they are on TikTok, Instagram, and other platforms with messages that resonate and inspire action.
Local Media Engagement
Place op-eds, letters to the editor, and community voices in local newspapers to shape public conversation.
Intergenerational Storytelling
Create spaces for elders to share experiences and wisdom, building understanding across generations.
Data with Narrative
Combine personal stories with statistics and research to show both human impact and systemic patterns.
Why Narrative Change Matters for Systemic Change
You cannot change systems without changing the stories people believe about those systems. If the dominant narrative says poverty is about individual failure, people will support individual solutions. If the narrative says poverty is about structural barriers, people will support systemic solutions.
Narrative change work is not just about good communications. It is about shifting the deep stories that shape public will, political possibilities, and resource allocation.
Narrative power drives change by:
- Building public will for policy changes
- Challenging harmful stereotypes and assumptions
- Centering the voices and experiences of those most impacted
- Making new possibilities seem reasonable and achievable
- Creating cultural shifts that support long-term transformation
Narrative change is a long-haul strategy. You will not see results overnight. But over time, shifting stories can create openings for policy wins, funding streams, and cultural transformation that would have been impossible without that groundwork.
How Funders Are Supporting This Work
The Convergence Partnership is a national funder collaborative working at the intersection of racial justice and health equity. Over the past several years, they have invested nearly $3 million in grants to 12 frontline, people of color-led organizations building civic, economic, and narrative power.
The Partnership includes 11 national, statewide, and local foundations:
- The California Endowment
- Chicago Community Trust
- Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo
- Conrad N. Hilton Foundation
- Elevated Chicago
- Health Forward Foundation
- Foundation for Louisiana
- Kansas Health Foundation
- The Kresge Foundation
- Sierra Health Foundation
- W.K. Kellogg Foundation
This growing funder interest means more resources are available for narrative change work—if organizers know how to articulate their strategies and demonstrate impact.
Getting Started: What You Can Do
You do not need a big budget or fancy equipment to start building narrative power in your community. Start where you are with what you have:
- Document stories: Use your phone to capture video interviews with community members
- Claim social media: Start an Instagram or TikTok account to share your organizing work
- Write op-eds: Submit pieces to local newspapers from community voices
- Host story circles: Create regular spaces for people to share experiences
- Partner with artists: Connect with local creators who want to support justice work
- Track your stories: Document how narrative is shifting over time
- Build relationships with media: Connect with journalists covering your issues
Questions to Ask About Your Narrative Strategy
- What are the dominant stories about our community, and who is telling them?
- What stories do we want to elevate instead?
- Who are the storytellers in our community, and how can we support them?
- Which platforms and mediums will reach our target audiences?
- How do we build narrative power while also building political and economic power?
Learn More About Building Narrative Power
Download the full report to see detailed case studies, strategies, and recommendations for funders and organizers working on narrative change.
