Guest column by JaNaé Bates, co-executive director of ISAIAH, appearing in Fall 2024 issue of Nonprofit News
In today’s dynamic world, nonprofit organizations have the ability to be at the heart of transformative change. But our impact doesn’t come solely from the services we provide or the policies for which we advocate. It comes from the stories we tell, the agency in people unlocked, and the values we center in our work.
As a narrative strategist and co-executive director of ISAIAH — a statewide, grassroots vehicle organizing a half million Minnesotans for racial and economic justice — I’ve seen firsthand how a values-based narrative is an essential driver of our collective mission. It empowers nonprofits to align their work with the deeper purpose of justice, equity, and community — creating a powerful voice that resonates not just locally, but across the nation. AND, it helps you win things!
The Power of Storytelling
Storytelling isn’t just about sharing successes or making our work more relatable. It’s about amplifying the values that fuel our mission and shaping the world we want to see. Every nonprofit exists to solve a problem or to uplift a community. However, the way we talk about those problems and that community can either reinforce the very issues we seek to dismantle or build the collective will to create meaningful change.
When we center our stories on scarcity, fear, and isolation, we may unintentionally reinforce a sense of helplessness. But when we flip the narrative — shifting from scarcity to abundance, from fear to faith, from impossibility to possibility — we cultivate a sense of hope and agency. This narrative shift activates people’s belief that change is not only possible but inevitable, because that person is ready to take action to make it happen with others. It is through storytelling that we foster a sense of shared responsibility, making our mission part of a larger collective effort to transform society for the better.
A Unified Narrative Strategy: Race Class Gender Narrative in Minnesota
One of the most effective tools I’ve encountered in recent years is the Race Class Gender Narrative. In Minnesota, we’ve used this approach to build a shared narrative across dozens of organizations through a collective called the Narrative Justice League. There, we are aligning our messages around values that uplift community, equity, and collective action. But just as a good story needs a plot, conflict, a protagonist, and a villain, so do our stories that work to engender the hope that people need to make to change.
This research-based and time tested narrative framework emphasizes that people’s lived experiences and values across race, class, and gender are interconnected, and that there are a handful of people who make decisions that create systems that oppress, scapegoat, and pit communities against each other, often harming us all. We then get to tell our own hero’s journey for how we create newness, allowing us all to flourish. By leveraging this framework, we have been able to tell more complete and powerful stories that build bridges rather than divisions.
The Race Class Gender Narrative has helped us create an echo chamber of values-driven storytelling that gets people in the driver’s seat. And because this narrative is durable and rooted in shared values rather than isolated issues, it has been incredibly effective at bringing together organizations across different sectors — whether they work on climate justice, workers’ rights, healthcare, or democracy.
We are no longer working in silos but in unison, creating a unified message that challenges the entrenched powers that have hoarded wealth and resources, while trying to make us afraid of each other and pitting us against each other. To do the very Minnesotan thing of quoting Paul Wellstone, we’ve realized that, “we all do better, when we all do better.”
Winning Big by Telling a Bigger Story
From the most racially and gender-equitable Paid Family and Medical Leave policy in the U.S. and the most substantial child tax credit in the country to the restoration of voting rights of 55,000 formerly incarcerated Minnesotans and securing driver’s licenses for all, regardless of immigration status — these victories didn’t happen in Minnesota by chance. They happened because we told a story of abundance, justice, and possibility.
We’ve shown that when people and organizations unite around shared values, they can push back against those who’ve long wielded disproportionate power and resources. Good storytelling doesn’t just talk about how terrible everything is, nor does it paint a utopia, ignoring forces that prevent its manifestation. With a Values, Villains and Vision framework that leans into race, gender, and class, we can scaffold the hope that people need to envision and work towards a better future.