The Never Ending Stories: Case Study and Insights on Impact Storytelling

NEVER ENDING STORIES

Case study and insights about

Impact Storytelling

--------------------------------

Introductory Word from Brian Palmer – The Power of Stories: 3

Impact Storytelling- Bridging Impact Monitoring and External Communication: 5

Stories of Change: Example: 9

Case Study: 12

Key insights from the Project: 20

Reach for Change’s Mini Guide to Impact Storytelling: 23

THE POWER OF STORIES

Introductory Word from Brian Palmer

--------------------------------

THE POWER OF STORIES4 REACH FOR CHANGE

This is a report about telling true

stories in hopes of inspiring social

engagement. It stands in a long

tradition of turning to stories for such

a purpose. As Susan Sontag put it:

“At the center of our moral life and

our moral imagination are the great

models of resistance: the great stories

of those who have said ‘No.’”

I was giving a lecture the other day about

Albert Göring, the brother of Hermann

Göring who founded the Gestapo and

became Adolf Hitler’s chosen successor.

Albert went the other way, rescuing

Jews. As a chief of Škoda Works in

Czechoslovakia, he took trucks to a

concentration camp, demanded workers for

his factories, and then released them in the

forest. He also sheltered anti-Nazi activists

at Škoda.

At the end of World War II, Albert faced a

chaotic Czech “people’s court” because

his brother was a war criminal. The court

did not believe that Albert was a resistance

hero, and it had powers to order immediate

execution. Albert’s Jewish and anti-Nazi

beneficiaries now returned the favor,

rapidly organizing and testifying to save his

life.

At that point in the story, I saw that a few

faces in the audience had tears running

down. Why just then?

---------------------------------

Brian Palmer is a social

anthropologist and scholar of

religion at Uppsala University

in Sweden. Previously he held

the Torgny Segerstedt Guest

Professorship at the University

of Gothenburg. For several years

Brian Palmer taught at Harvard

University, to 600 students per

term in his courses on civic

courage and engagement. He

regularly gives lectures outside

the university in both Swedish

and English.

Another life I often portray is Malala

Yousafzai. As an eleven-year-old, she

began blogging against the Taliban while

living in their shadow in northern Pakistan.

At fifteen Malala was shot in the head and

neck by a Taliban militant. Around the

world, people rallied to save the comatose

girl -- prayer vigils, raising money for her

care, an airlift to a hospital in England.

And it is at that point that some of my

listeners are holding back tears. Why

there?

Albert and Malala both expressed altruistic

courage -- stretching beyond their own

families and friends to try to protect

strangers. Few things are so beautiful.

And when it becomes reciprocal -- when

others act to return the love -- the beauty

is almost too much. A vision of the world

we want to live in. A foretaste of a humane

society.

The stories of Malala and Albert remind us

of what human beings are capable of. They

assure us that amidst the violence, greed

and indifference, it is still possible for our

species to shine so magnificently.

This report helps us think about how to tell

such stories -- stories that touch our hearts,

because those are the only ones that can

move us to unselfish action.

INTRODUCTORY WORD -FROM BRIAN PALMER

IMPACT STORYTELLING

Bridging Impact Monitoring

and External Communication

--------------------------------

6 REACH FOR CHANGE

IMAPACT STORYTELLING

THE IMPACT

COMMUNICATION

DILEMMA

Any organisation claiming, as Reach for Change does, to work for

a better world, needs to constantly describe and communicate the

problems that it is trying to solve as well as the impact it has.

One central function of impact communication, as we call it here, is that

of “selling” the organisation’s cause, i.e. fundraising or acquiring and

retaining support in other ways. Another central function for impact

communication is that of analysing and describing the efficiency of the

organisation’s programs and engaging in stakeholder dialogue to better

understand both the impact and different stakeholder’s perspectives.

The former traditionally translates into powerful emotional public

campaigns, the latter into more factual and sometimes academic impact

reporting.

In our view, both these forms of impact communication have specific

challenges and risks. On the one hand, strong, emotional, public

campaigns risk oversimplifying, generalising, or stereotyping, which can

undermine the cause or impact group. On the other hand, reporting can

be complicated and theoretical, thereby creating barriers for effective

and inclusive stakeholder engagement.

We believe that storytelling,

specifically Impact Storytelling,

offers a great opportunity to

integrate these processes and

to avoid the pitfalls of traditional

approaches.

-------------------------------

7 REACH FOR CHANGE


THE DUAL PURPOSES

OF IMPACT

STORYTELLING

01

02

Storytelling is a way of transmitting a message in an engaging and

memorable manner. Stories allow us to capture our listener’s attention,

and make it more likely that they will remember what we are telling

them. Finally, stories move people to take action. Purposeful stories,

those created with a specific mission in mind, are absolutely essential in

persuading others to support a vision, a dream or a cause. All of these

functions are useful for cause-driven organisations.

By ‘Impact Storytelling’ we mean going beyond using stories to acquire

and retain supporters for the cause. We define it as a strategic and

methodical process to produce, analyse and communicate true stories

about how specific individuals are impacted by an organisation. It

involves engaging various stakeholders throughout the process.

We see the opportunity of meeting two objectives with this approach:

Qualitatively evaluating the

organisation’s impact. This happens

both in the process of identifying

stories: Are there individual

examples of the impact that we aim

to achieve? And in the stakeholder

dialogues: How do our stakeholders

view the impact we are having and

what do they see as most significant?

Engaging people in the cause.

The approach not only lets the

organisation continuously gather

content for communication, it also

creates opportunities to engage

stakeholders as co-creators,

thereby learning more about which

type of stories the target groups

find relevant and engaging.

STORY BY MARTINE UMULISA

“NOW I CAN FORGET MY DARK PAST.”

8 REACH FOR CHANGE


REACH FOR CHANGE’S

JOURNEY IN IMPACT

STORYTELLING

Quite early in our history we started introducing mechanisms to

harvest stories in our reporting process. Our process for this is

inspired by the Most Significant Change (MSC) methodology.

In practice it means that every quarter each social entrepreneur

that receives support from Reach for Change must submit the story

of a child that they have helped during this period. This means that

in 2015, when our portfolio exceeded 100 social entrepreneurs,

we collected more than 400 stories, each describing a change in a

child’s life.

The stories collected were then used as a basis for stakeholder

dialogues around how they reflect the impact of the individual

entrepreneurs and that of Reach for Change. Increasingly, we have

also aimed to use this process to identify the stories best suited for

external communication and the best ways to use these.

In 2015, with the support of Sida, we launched a specific project

– The Never Ending Stories Project – to further develop and

make use of this approach. The aim was to launch a story-based

communication campaign to increase knowledge of African social

entrepreneurship among the Swedish youth. In the process we also

aimed to further develop our understanding and capabilities and to

initiate a wider discussion with our peers on how stories can be used

to communicate impact in a responsible, effective and impactful way.

STORIES OF CHANGE

Example

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STORIES OF CHANGE10 REACH FOR CHANGE

BRIDGING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE BETWEEN BOYS AND GIRLS

ABOUT

--------------------

LOCATION: TANZANIA

LONGITUDE: 39.2833 E

LATITUDE: 6.8000 S

STORY BY CAROLYNE CAROLYNE EKYARISIIMA

This story is told in the words of Carolyne Carolyne

Ekyarisiima, who shares what happens when a girl is

empowered with ICT skills:

I come from Tanzania, where digital literacy is very low.

This is a problem because it inhibits development both

for the children and for society as a whole. The literacy

is especially low among females - partly because there

is a lack of female role models in the field, and partly

because parents do not realize the value in introducing

their daughters to technology. This creates a digital

divide between girls and boys.

THIS STORY IS ABOUT MODESTA.

Modesta is a 15-year-old girl in a public secondary school

in Dar es Salaam. The first time I met her was in August

2014 when she came to one of the Apps & Girls coding

clubs that I arrange. Modesta already knew that she

wanted to do something for her community, but she did not

know what and how she was going to do so.

Even though Modesta’s father was an auctioneer for

secondhand computers, Modesta, like many girls in

Tanzania, had hardly ever used a computer.

STORIES OF CHANGE11 REACH FOR CHANGE

BRIDGING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE BETWEEN BOYS AND GIRLS

The first day of the coding club, Modesta was quiet,

just sitting behind and watching over her peers’

shoulders as they coded. The second day, she had

gained enough courage to grab one of the computers.

She managed to turn it on, but she still did not know

how to use it. However, Modesta continued coming to

the coding clubs and her confidence and interest grew

day by day. Soon enough, she even started showing

up for mentorship programs on weekends and became

one of the best coders in the program and started to

teach her colleagues.

After attending just a few sessions, Modesta created

her own website to give a voice to students who

are harassed and abused by bus conductors while

using public transport in Dar es Salaam. She entered

Apps&Girls Annual competition 2014, and out of

38 participants, Modesta won the 3rd prize with

the project. In June 2015 she won the Tanzict and

COSTECH Innovation Fund worth about USD 4,500 to

implement her project which is already available online.

Modesta now stands as a role model for many girls. She is

setting up her own organization to become self-employed

and has found her way to contribute to her community -

through technology. She does not want to get employment,

but to create it.

Modesta is not exceptional or special; there are many girls

like her who can do this or even bigger things than what

modesta has done. I want to continue to empower more

Modestas who will create employment, solve community

problems and build an innovative generation - making

Tanzania a better place for all, despite their gender.

MODESTA HAS FOUND HER

WAY TO CONTRIBUTE

TO HER COMMUNITY -

THROUGH TECHNOLOGY.

CASE STUDY--------------------------------

CASE STUDY13 REACH FOR CHANGE

Through the Never Ending Stories Project we sought to use

our method for Impact Storytelling to increase the knowledge

and understanding of African social entrepreneurship

among youth in Sweden. Secondarily, we wanted to take the

opportunity to develop as Impact Storytellers, and to help

others develop as well.

Through our initial research we found that there are countless

theoretical models and guidelines for NGOs on how to work

with storytelling, but there were not many practical examples.

We have therefore taken an experimental and collaborative

approach in order to learn and share through open dialogue

with other relevant actors.


At the centre of the project was a public campaign aimed at creating buzz and engagement around our impact stories from African social entrepreneurs. The campaign was created in collaboration with the creative agency Deportivo.

When creating the campaign we started with a number of initial insights and hypotheses:

Young people in Sweden

have a distorted image of

African countries based

on one-sided media and

fundraising campaigns,

which convey images of

disasters and crises.

01 0302 04 05

By communicating truthful

impact stories of African

social entrepreneurs

creating social change

through innovative solutions

we can challenge and

nuance stereotypes.

If we can impact young

adults, we can potentially

also reach a wider target

audience as young adults

are so called “organic

ambassadors” sharing feel-

good stories and societal

issues in social media.

They also have an impact

on opinion leaders and on

society in general.

As young adults in Sweden

are increasingly turning

away from traditional media,

and since the media budget

of the project is limited,

it makes sense to focus

on social media as a main

channel.

Young adults receive an

overflow of information, and

notice and share only issues

that have a great personal

relevance to them.

THE NEVER ENDING STORIES PROJECT

A COMMUNICATION CAMPAIGN POWERED BY DREAMS

THE NEVER ENDING STORIES PROJECT15 REACH FOR CHANGE

http://www.http://theneverendingstories.com//



This presented us with the challenge to connect

our stories to a concept that young adults in

Sweden could relate to and engage with. Our

response to this was to make the campaign about

dreams. We believe that all young people have

dreams, and every story of change starts with a

dream. Without dreams, no change is possible.

We also realised we needed to offer a unique and

engaging enough experience for young people to

care, and to share.

SO WE CREATED THE FIRST EVER WEBSITE POWERED BY DREAMS.

THE NEVER ENDING STORIES PROJECT16 REACH FOR CHANGE

We also utilized media

space that was provided by

our partners to promote the

campaign and spread the

stories further.

We began by connecting

five young adults from

different time zones – our

‘dream lab’ – to the website

through an electronic device

that measured their dream

activity.

When the dreamers

dreamt, new impact stories

appeared on the website

(theneverendingstories.com)

as stars being lit in a night

sky.

16 impact stories from

African social entrepreneurs

were shared on the website,

the majority of them in a

straight-forward text format.

One of the stories however

was presented in the form

of a short video. To ignite

the online conversation, we

contacted a few selected

people with influence in the

target audience that helped

spread the campaign

messages online.



Ur drömmar växer idéer. Vågar vi följa dem kan vi förändra världen.

Se hur f ler drömmar utvecklas i realtid på theneverendingstories.com

THE NEVER ENDING STORIES- POWERED BY DREAMERS

Reach for Change är en ideell st if telse grundad av Kinnevik och Sara Damber


The website was launched on

October 1st 2015, and the

dream lab was active for one

week. As the campaign spread

organically, more than 600,000

people were reached through

social media postings, shares

and retweets.

ORGANIC REACH

------------------------

INTERNATIONAL COVERAGE

------------------------

STORY VIEWS

------------------------

The biggest buzz, however,

was created in international

media. In Sweden, four news

articles and one interview

on TV reached 1,5 million

people. As the campaign was

also picked up by some of

the world’s leading online

youth and innovation media,

the international coverage

reached more than 55 million

people.

The stories presented on

the website (texts) and on

Youtube and Instagram (video)

were read or viewed 24,000

times. To investigate what

impact the campaign had on

the target audience, we used

a test panel of which 87%

showed that their knowledge

of social entrepreneurship

in Africa had increased

after seeing the different

components of the campaign.

600,000 55 million 24,000

RESULTS


As mentioned, a secondary objective of the project was to learn and develop as Impact Storytellers, and to help others learn and develop. For that reason a lot of focus was given to collaborative work with our Change Leaders and other relevant actors, as well as on developing and conceptualizing our method. The following were central efforts in this work.

STAKEHOLDER DIALOGUE AND METHOD DEVELOPMENT


On October 20th 2015, Reach for

Change organized a workshop

focusing on impact storytelling.

The objective was to initiate a

discussion among those working

with communication in NGOs and

aid agencies in Sweden, as well as

with related stakeholders such as

communication agencies and media.

With this cross-sector workshop,

potentially the first one of a series,

Reach for Change wanted to be a

catalyst for great ideas and good

practices on how to use storytelling

for change.

20 organisations, including

representative of the Swedish

development agency Sida, the

European Commission, Plan

International, Friends, the news

company Metro, and the PR agency

Edelman Deportivo, gathered at the

European House in Stockholm for a

2.5-hour seminar to share and learn

from each other on how to create and

share impactful stories.

During the first part of the meeting

Reach for Change shared their

perspective and way of working with

storytelling. The second part of the

workshop was built around thematic

discussions.

These were selected among Reach

for Change’s social entrepreneurs,

based on the quality of stories they had

submitted and on their demonstrated

interest in improving their storytelling

technique. The training took the form

of a three-day workshop in a remote

location outside Stockholm, where the

entrepreneurs received lectures and

individual coaching from the Reach

for Change communication team as

well as from external experts from the

media and communication sectors.

These included representatives of the

independent media house Fanzingo as

well as professional copywriters from the

media and advertising sectors. During

the workshop each participant produced

one to two stories.

Collaborating with communication

and media experts, and sharing with

peer organisations in the civil society

as part of the storytelling initiative

has been a great learning experience

for Reach for Change. Based on this

learning, we have been able to enrich

and revise our storytelling method.

Our updated storytelling guide will

be used as a resource for all our

supported entrepreneurs to further

build our organisation’s storytelling

capability. An abbreviated version is

also shared here.

A CROSS-SECTOR WORKSHOP ON STORYTELLING

AN INTENSIVE STORYTELLING WORKSHOP FOR A SELECTED GROUP OF SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS

A REVISION AND IMPROVEMENT OF THE REACH FOR CHANGE STORYTELLING GUIDE

STORY BY MARTINE UMULISA

0201 03

“MODESTA NOW STANDS AS A ROLE MODEL FOR MANY GIRLS. SHE DOES NOT WANT TO GET EMPLOYMENT, BUT TO CREATE IT.”

KEY INSIGHTS

The Never Ending Stories Project

--------------------------------

KEY INSIGHTS21 REACH FOR CHANGE

Telling someone else’s

story comes with a whole

lot of responsibility. Our first

responsibility is to respect and

protect the integrity of the people

we tell the stories about. It is

important that individuals are not

shown as victims, but as agents

of their own life who are facing

difficulties and challenges.

The second responsibility is

not to perpetuate or nourish

stereotypes, both in the choice of

stories we tell, and in the way we

tell them. A story illustrates one

reality, one specific problematic,

which we address in a specific

way. Individual stories should

be used as an entry point to

a broader discussion and to

further information. It is important

that, in our communication, we

make it clear that there is more

to understand, more to read,

more to take into consideration.

Our stories should be nuanced

and contain sufficient details

for the audience to understand

the context in which the story

happens. Simple is good, but

oversimplification is dangerous.

Finally, as a community of

storytellers for change, we need

to make sure that the sum of all

the stories that we share with the

public aggregates into a bigger

story that reflects the reality, with

all the nuances and paradoxes

that it implies.

A specific responsibility of

Impact Storytelling lies in the

imperative of truthfulness, which

is not the case for all kinds of

storytelling. This of course limits

the artistic freedom – but it is

also a strong point. The fact

that a story is true, with its good

and bad sides, is a key factor to

make it engaging. In addition, a

true story will be told and retold

with a degree of assertiveness

that no fictional story could ever

equal.

However, even a story where

every detail is factually correct

can be misleading. On the other

hand, there are manipulations

of the truth that would be

considered acceptable by

most; such as changing the

name of a character to protect

their integrity, or leaving out

irrelevant information to make

a course of events more

comprehensible.

Therefore we believe that,

beyond fact-checking details,

there needs to be a proper

discussion about whether the

overall impression of each story

is ‘truthful’.

We have found that a simple

narrative model based on the

classic dramatic arch works

surprisingly well in order to

structure and analyse the

content of even the most

different impact stories. The

task of identifying key conflicts,

turning points, protagonists

and antagonists has been very

similar and very useful for all the

social entrepreneurs we worked

with. Both in order to help them

reflect on their own impact and

to attract the attention of others.

It has been increasingly

obvious to us that Impact

Storytelling is a collaborative

effort. Getting it right requires

the ability to reveal the most

relevant impact through

interviews with stakeholders

(in our case, children), a good

understanding of the problem

addressed and the impact

desired, an understanding of

the target audience and the

communicative landscape,

and a number of other factors.

Creating great impact stories is

a time-consuming craft. It is a

constant process of tweaking,

testing and getting feedback.

During our storytelling

workshop we found great value

in collaborative work, honest

feedback.

WITH GREAT STORIES COMES GREAT RESPONSIBILITY

THE TRUTH IS OUR KEY ASSET BUT IS ALSO RELATIVE

ARISTOTLE HAS SOMETHING TO SAY TO TODAY’S SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS

TESTING, TWEAKING AND COLLABORATING GO A LONG WAY

01 02 03 04

It may come as no surprise,

but our experience from the

project has clearly shown how

powerful real human interaction

is in Impact Storytelling. We

have experimented with many

different formats, channels

and techniques, and they have

generated different response.

Unsurprisingly, the story we

shared in the form of a video

gained a lot more traction

than the ones presented as

text. We have found through

these experiences that the

most engaging medium for

storytelling is the social

entrepreneurs themselves,

telling their stories to a live

audience. Even with powerful

written narratives and creative

use of video and digital media,

the best we can hope for is that

as little as possible of the power

of the personal story is lost in

the distribution.

FACE-TO-FACE IS THE BEST SOCIAL MEDIUM – AND THE MOST POWERFUL

05

KEY INSIGHTS22 REACH FOR CHANGE

When creating that extra

element, there is always the

risk of being too creative, or

rather being creative at the cost

of being relevant. We believe

that this was partly the case

with our dream lab. Although it

seems to have resonated with

the target audience and created

a lot of attention, it most likely

also in some cases got in the

way of the actual stories and

the message we wanted to get

across. A stronger and more

easily understood link between

the overall campaign concept

and the individual stories would

most likely have increased the

impact of the campaign.

We do believe that good

impact stories should focus

on one specific individual in a

specific context. But in order

for the story to make sense and

engage, it also needs to evoke

universal concepts to which

your targeted audience can

relate and feel connected.

Essentially it is a lot easier to

get noticed when connecting

to a theme that your target

audience is already thinking

and/or talking about than to

explain to them why what

you want to say is important.

It may be a very profound

theme – such as a father’s

love for his daughter as in the

highly viral Dear Dad story

from Care Norway (youtu.be/

dP7OXDWof30). But it may

also be something a lot more

commonplace. Many of the

stories shared by Humans of

New York (humansofnewyork.

com) engaged the audience to

a large extent through capturing

descriptions of everyday events,

feelings and concerns.

Our campaign was executed

in Sweden primarily targeting

a Swedish audience. However,

it gained a lot more traction in

international media and reached

a vastly larger number of

people outside of Sweden. This

illustrates the fact that on the

Internet, specific interests are

often a more important common

denominator for sharing content

than geography.

Most of the organic sharing of

our stories in social media can

be traced to the influencers that

were contacted to help share

our messages. Even if a story

or a campaign has the qualities

to go viral, it needs to start

somewhere.

LIFE AND DEATH MAY NOT DO THE TRICK

THE COMMUNICATION CAN GET IN THE WAY OF THE STORY

A SPECIFIC STORY CAN ALSO BE UNIVERSAL

VIRAL SHARING DOESN’T RESPECT NATIONAL BORDERS

SOMEONE NEEDS TO LIGHT THE MATCH TO START THE FIRE

06 07 08 09 10

In the campaign we have been

working with real stories and

life-changing events, sometimes

about life and death. One might

want to think that would be

enough to make the stories go

viral when you put them online.

The truth is, that has not been

the case. There are countless

engaging and important stories

out there that compete for

people’s attention, and in many

cases it’s not stories about

life and death that create the

biggest traction.

The further away from face-

to-face contact, the more the

stories need an extra element

to be noticed and shared. It can

be something surprising, unique

or funny, but it needs to stand

out and it needs to be relevant

to the target audience.

STORY BY LILY KUDZRO

“I WAS THE ONLY PERSON WHO SCORED 90% IN THAT TEST. I FELT REALLY PROUD.”

MINI-GUIDE

Reach for Change’s Mini-Guide to

Impact Storytelling

--------------------------------

REACH FOR CHANGE’S MINI GUIDE TO IMPACT STORYTELLING24 REACH FOR CHANGE

Based on our experiences we have put together some guidelines

and specific advice regarding Impact Storytelling. It should be noted

that these are primarily developed for social entrepreneurs working

to support children. However, we believe that there are parts that

are relevant to any organisation working with Impact Storytelling, and

we are happy to share the key points of our approach, while looking

forward to continuing to learn from our on-going work and from our

peers. For a more comprehensive presentation of how we work with

Impact Storytelling, please contact us.


To be able to tell stories,

you first need to find them

and to document them.

This is what we mean by

harvesting stories. Finding

stories are often a journalistic

endeavour, it will most likely

involve spending time with

the beneficiaries of your

programme and asking lots of

questions.

For each story that you use

in your communications or

reporting, you might need

to collect and consider

ten or more stories.

Thus, it is important that

collecting stories from your

operations becomes, if not a

prioritised activity, one that

is fully integrated into your

organisational processes. In

that way you will ensure a

regular and systematic story

harvesting and build a large

resource of stories that you

can choose and work from.

Starting by looking at your

vision and mission, you

need to understand what

change you want to show. In

that way, you will be able to

select a story that not only

reflects a significant change

for the person impacted, but

also echoes you and your

organisation’s overall story.

The main message of your

story should be: “this is how

we have impacted a person’s

life”.

To clearly demonstrate

impact, your story

must include the right

components:

BUILD A CULTURE OF STORY HARVESTING

CHOOSE THE STORY SHOWING THE MOST SIGNIFICANT CHANGE

DEMONSTRATE IMPACT

01 02 03

--

OUR ADVICEIntegrate the collection of stories into another process in your organisation. As an example, the collection of stories from social entrepreneurs is part of the quarterly reporting process in place at Reach for Change.

--

OUR ADVICEOnce you have preselected a few stories that you feel reflect your vision and mission share them in draft form with friends and colleagues to see which one(s) represents the Most Significant Change to them. By asking for honest feedback you’ll get help telling great stories, while gaining insights into the impact you are creating.

--

OUR ADVICEAn impact, meaning a short and medium term outcome representing a change in the person’s life, such as new behaviours or new skills.

A person whose life has been impacted by your work.

A solution, meaning the support or programme provided by your organisation to address this specific problem, and which will constitute a turning point towards the resolution of the problem.

An impact, meaning a short and medium term outcome representing a change in the person’s life, such as new behaviours or new skills.

A problem to be addressed, meaning the initial situation the person supported is facing.


Well-constructed narratives compel and engage the reader.

This feeling of being drawn in is a neurological response in

the human brain to certain elements of the story.

Thus, constructing the narrative properly can be seen as

somewhat of a science. It involves gathering a lot of data,

and then strategically selecting elements that effectively and

engagingly tell the story.

See whether you can find and clearly describe events in the

narrative that correspond to these plot points:

USE THE DRAMATIC ARC TO BUILD TENSION AND TRIGGER EMOTION

04

--

OUR ADVICEIntegrate the collection of stories into another process in your organisation. As an example, the collection of stories from social entrepreneurs is part of the quarterly reporting process in place at Reach for Change.

The Introduction

This is where you introduce

the main character and the

context of the story.

The Ignighting Incident

Any classic story will

revolve around some sort of

conflict (typically good vs.

bad). The Igniting Incident

is the moment in time when

this conflict is introduced

– the bad guy appears or a

problem arises.

Raising the Stakes

After the problem has been

introduced, normally there

is a series of events where

conflict escalates drama.

In the case of an impact

story this would be adding

information that increases a

feeling of urgency about the

problem.

Turning Point

This is where the drama

reaches its peak and the

hero’s fate changes. In

an impact story this may

be where the beneficiary

comes into contact with

the solution. Resolution

The part where the conflict

unravels. In an impact story

this would be where the

impact is presented.


Needless to say, your story

should feature real-life

characters and events. Make

sure they are in focus and

that the story reflects their

perspective and in some way

is told through their eyes. A

very effective way to do this is

to quote the person portrayed

in the story and let them be

heard in the story. When

characters speak in a story,

it lends immediacy, urgency

and authenticity. Let them use

their own voice and their own

words. People care about

people. In the same way,

pictures of the main character

and of his/her environment

can be a valuable addition to

a story in order to reinforce a

sense of reality.

Keep the amount of technical

information to only as much as

is needed for your audience

to understand what is at

stake in the story. Adding too

much detail when describing

the context of the story or

elements of your programme

may make it difficult to

follow the narrative. On the

other hand, in describing

for example specific

environments, colours, smells,

feelings etc, great detail can

make the story come to life

and help the audience follow

the narrative.

When communicating your

story you will have a better

chance at being heard the

more you can adapt it to

your target audience. In

order to connect with your

target audience you should

understand them as much

as possible. Find out what

they’re interested in, how

much they know about your

topic, and how much time

they have for your cause.

Some techniques that are

used to engage readers

include:

In the end, you will most

likely only be able to tell your

story to a limited number

of people. For it to spread

widely, it must be shared and

retold by the people that hear

it. People sharing your story

will also most likely recall it

better and be more likely to

feel responsibility for your

cause. To encourage this,

and to minimize the risk of

it being distorted along the

way, make sure that the core

message of your story is easy

to understand, remember and

retell.

LET THEIR VOICES BE HEARD INCLUDE THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF DETAIL

ADAPT YOUR STORY TO YOUR AUDIENCE AND TO YOUR OBJECTIVE

MAKE THE STORY SHAREABLE

05 06 07 08

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OUR ADVICEAn interview with the main protagonist can be arranged after you have identified and drafted a story in order to capture reflections and quotes. Once the story is finalized, it is important to share the story with the subjects of the story and to get their (and in the case of minors, their parents) signed consent to use their stories and images.

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OUR ADVICEWe are aware that a story only shows one reality. To avoid distracting from the story itself, you can refer the audience to another document or webpage for more information about the context of the story.

--

OUR ADVICECreate many stories out of one story! It is a good exercise to practice your storytelling skills, and a great way to capitalize on a good story. Work on different target audience, length and communication supports.

--

OUR ADVICETry to retell your story in three sentences without losing the key message (which will most likely entail your solution and your impact). If it can’t be done, try to see if you can further simplify or clarify your key message. Ask others to retell your story to see if they have understood the core of it. If they haven’t, try to rework it until you have a clear key message.

Connecting to a theme that is relevant to the target audience.

Directly addressing the target audience.

Help the audience identify with the person in the story by focusing on details that they can easily relate to.

About Reach for Change

Reach for Change is a non-profit organisation founded by the Kinnevik Group and

Sara Damber to improve children’s lives. We find and develop Change Leaders – local

social entrepreneurs with innovations that solve pressing issues facing children. The

entrepreneurs are helped to scale their innovations through seed funding, access to

business expertise and networking opportunities. Launched in Sweden in 2010, we

are now present in 17 countries across three continents, supporting more than 200

Change Leaders globally. We are steadily moving into more markets and increasing

our global impact.

We have identified a strong drive amongst NGOs and

aid agencies to further work with storytelling as a key

component of their communication strategies to create

awareness, opinion and engagement, as well as for

reporting and transparency purposes. At the same

time, this drive comes with a set of challenges both

from a communication and from an ethical perspective.

We see that there is a clear need for dedicating time

and space for organisations to meet and share best

practices for Impact Storytelling, thus we have created

the We Are Storytellers for Change community on

LinkedIn.

Please join us in the We Are Storytellers for Change

LinkedIn community to continue the discussion about

Impact Storytelling.

JOIN THE COMMUNITY OF STORYTELLERS FOR CHANGE!

Documents

The Never Ending Stories: Case Study and Insights on Impact Storytelling