Introduction
This guide is for anyone who wants to create social change, and who wants to learn how storytelling can help.
The guide is divided into four color-coded sections.
- The STRATEGY section is about how to use storytelling to best effect.
- The STORYTELLING section offers ideas on how to tell a good story.
- The METHODS section covers some techniques in storytelling.
- And the STRUCTURE section looks at how to incorporate storytelling into your everyday work.
Contents
INTRODUCTION
- About this guide 1
- Introduction 2
STRATEGY
- Why tell stories for social change? 4
- How do we develop a storytelling strategy? 6
- How is storytelling used for social change? 8
- Where can we tell stories? 9
- How do we do research to support our storytelling? 10
- How do we reach new audiences? 12
- How can we piggyback on pop culture? 14
- How do we balance short-and long-term storytelling? 16
- How do we make stories actionable? 18
- How do we combine the personal and the political? 20
STORYTELLING
- What makes for a good story? 22
- How do we tell compelling stories about boring topics? 24
- How do we keep audiences involved in the story? 26
- How do we combine stories and statistics? 28
- In praise of messy, unstrategic storytelling 29
- What are some of the forms of storytelling we can use? 30
- Whose and what kinds of stories can we tell? 33
- How can we elicit good stories from an interview? 34
- Working with StoryCorps 35
METHODS
- What is Theatre of The Oppressed? 36
- What is Public Narrative and how do we use it? 38
- How can we use fiction in our work? 40
- What is a story circle and how do we facilitate one? 43
- How and why can we use humor? 44
- How can we use history? 47
- How do we tell stories about the future we want to see? 48
STRUCTURE
- How do we make storytelling a regular part of our work? 50
- How can we gather stories from constituents? 52
- What is a story bank and how can we build one? 54
- What are the ethics of storytelling? 56
- How can nonprofts work with outside storytellers to create change? 59
- How do we evaluate the impact of our stories? 60
- How do we know we’re making a difference? 62
- What practices support storytelling on an ongoing basis? 63
- What can grantmakers do? 64
AFTERWORD
- Afterword by Deepak Bhargava 66
Excerpts
Access Full Guide
Storytelling and Social Change: A Guide for Activists, Organizations and Social Entrepreneurs (PDF)
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