An Ethical Storytelling Framework for Your Nonprofit Training
We often reach for storytelling in our nonprofit training and it’s easy to understand why. Stories evoke emotion, help us connect with each other, and help us learn.
But, there is a wrong and right way to tell a story.
On this episode, Diana Farias Heinrich is sharing her ethical storytelling framework with us so we can tell stories the right way and prevent harm.
As the CEO of Habra Marketing, Diana helps nonprofits use ethical communication strategies and marketing to raise more money
Listen to the episode or scroll down to read the blog post ↓
Key Points:
03:59 The importance of stories and how they help us learn
09:50 Telling stories with care
14:20 A framework for ethical storytelling
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An Ethical Storytelling Framework for Your Nonprofit Training
Stories: we tell them all the time.
We laugh as we share funny stories about our kids or an experience that we had.
We cry as we share stories about loss.
We cringe when we hear stories about pain and suffering.
We get excited as we talk about our accomplishments.
Stories evoke emotion, help us connect with each other, and help us learn.
But there is a wrong way to tell a story…
Sometimes, the way we tell stories can cause harm.
As we think about using stories in our training, I’m going to encourage us to stop. Stop for just a moment because there is a right way and a wrong way to tell a story.
One way will support learning.
The other way might just cause harm.
So let's stop telling stories until we've learned the ethical storytelling framework that Diana Farias Heinrich shares with us.
In this blog post, we’re covering the following:
Diana is an entrepreneur, speaker, and marketer and as the CEO of Habra Marketing, she helps nonprofits use ethical communication strategies and marketing to raise more money.
1) The Importance of Stories and Storytelling
Diana shares why stories are so important.
“Stories, at their core, teach us stuff. They entertain us. They call attention to things that need to be put forward.” - Diana Farias Heinrich
Diana explains that stories are a great tool for:
Learning
Opening people’s minds
Motivating people to take action
“It's that connection of making somebody feel something that moves them.” - Diana Farias Heinrich
2) Stories as a Tool for Learning and Development
As Learning and Development, we are particularly interested in how stories help people learn.
“Stories connect us to one another on a physiological level, and when we're connected, we can take action together.” - Diana Farias Heinrich
Another thing that Diana likes to think about is show, don’t tell.
“That's such a fundamental when you're writing a story. Give descriptions and examples. And that's what matters in training too. You want to give an example of what you're talking about so that people can fully understand, so that they can either connect to it or relate to it, or just shift something in their mind to where they finally get it. That's why showing examples is so important to storytelling and to training.” - Diana Farias Heinrich
This makes so much sense. You can visualize whatever it is that you need to be doing through that story, and because you're connecting to that story, it is likely motivating you to do something, to take some sort of action.
3) Telling Stories with Care
To explain the importance of telling stories with care, Diana shares an example from her own experience.
At her first job in a nonprofit, as a development communications coordinator, one of her first assignments was to write the stories of 10 young women who had won college scholarships for an annual luncheon.
She wrote these stories, photographed the women, and then published them on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and the nonprofit’s website.
“I felt super good because these young women had overcome so much as young moms to graduate high school and to go on to postsecondary education.” - Diana Farias Heinrich
However, one day Diana heard that one of the young women had been involved in a domestic violence situation and her ex was being let out of jail.
“Because of my background as an advocate for survivors, I just knew in that instance that everything I had published about this young woman online could lead the abuser to her. I had published her first name, her last name, her kid's name, her program location, and her picture.” - Diana Farias Heinrich
Diana immediately took all of the information she had published down.
“I wasn't going to be able to take back any of the shares. I couldn't take back anything that had been in print. Basically, I couldn't take back any damage that had already been done.” - Diana Farias Heinrich
Diana explains if she had known what this young woman’s situation was, she would have never published any of that information to begin with.
This led Diana to create a process where people could tell and share their stories in a way where they are informed of what happens when you offer your story.
This is the framework she now uses and teaches others to use so we can all tell stories ethically.
4) An Ethical Storytelling Framework
Diana’s ethical storytelling framework is called EquaStory and stands for explore, question, understand, and approval.
“It's basically four steps to make sure that when you're publishing or sharing someone's story, you're doing so in a way that isn't going to come back around to bite them.” - Diana Farias Heinrich
Diana explains that the main thing that sets this framework apart is that it comes from a publishing perspective.
“Because I was always hitting the publish button, I felt really responsible. When I hit this publish button, I better be sure that I'm not repeating the same mistake. And I'll tell you right now, I made more mistakes. I still make mistakes, and what I like to remind myself and remind others is that ethical storytelling is a journey.” - Diana Farias Heinrich
Explore
Diana explains that this is your background work.
1. Gather the background of the person whose story you’re telling.
“As the one who's going to publish the story or use the story in training, I always go and gather the background of the person whose story I'm telling.” - Diana Farias Heinrich
For example, if you’re using a staff member's story in a training, Diana recommends checking with them if there is any reason why you shouldn’t use that story.
“In nonprofit cases, a lot of the times, the person in the publishing role [...] may not have direct access to the client, so I would talk to their case manager or their advocate.” - Diana Farias Heinrich
2. Explore the media you're using to release the story.
Are you making a video or a social media post, are you writing a fundraising appeal, or pitching to TV?
“I'm the kind of marketer who likes to get a lot of mileage out of a single story and publish it in a lot of different ways.” - Diana Farias Heinrich
The same goes for training. Are you creating a training video? A case study? A podcast episode? How will it be used and where will it be released? If it's a training video, will it be on a private LMS? On YouTube? If it's a podcast, will be on a public platform like Apple Podcasts or Spotify?
3. Explore power dynamics.
“If I'm hitting the publish button, I have a certain level of power compared to the person whose story I'm publishing.” - Diana Farias Heinrich
Diana explains that you have to be aware of the power dynamics so you can ensure that you are putting the power back in the story holder's hands by involving them at every step of the storytelling process.
Question
There are two parts to the question piece.
1. Create a physically and psychologically safe space to ask questions of the story holder so that they feel comfortable answering them.
Diana explains that this can be done by making the physical space comfortable or if it’s an online interview making sure that it’s a good time to call them.
Also, send them the questions ahead of time.
“Make sure that they feel ready and prepared, and that they're not going to get sidetracked by a question that they weren't ready for.” - Diana Farias Heinrich
2. Ask quality questions during interviews.
“This is in an effort to avoid re-traumatizing someone. You don't want to bring up something that they're not ready to talk about.” - Diana Farias Heinrich
Diana explains that just because someone shares a story with you, doesn't mean they're ready to share it publicly.
“The other part of asking quality questions is using asset-based language. So putting that person in the position of power with the questions itself, leaving it open-ended. Letting the story come out of them, rather than you dictating what you think their story should be.” - Diana Farias Heinrich
Understand
Diana explains that this is one of the most important pieces of the EquaStory framework.
1. Ensure the storyteller understands the consequences of telling their story.
“Make sure that the person who is sharing their story understands what it means to go public with it, whether you're going public with it in a room of 30 people that you're training, or whether you're going public with it on social media.” - Diana Farias Heinrich
According to Diana, they should be aware of all the different ways you are going to publish the story.
2. Ask a stakeholder test question.
“The stakeholder test is a question that puts the media piece that you're publishing into the context of a person's everyday life.” - Diana Farias Heinrich
The example Diana gives is working with youth who use TikTok. This is the question she might ask:
“If we're going to put this video on a series of TikToks, how would you feel if your friends saw this? Do you think you think you might feel proud of that, or do you think you might be embarrassed?” - Diana Farias Heinrich
This way they can think about what it really means for their friends and family to see this or what it means for their future career.
Approval
Diana explains that this step is about following up before you publish the piece.
1. Send the story for approval.
Diana recommends sending them the piece that you are planning to publish and pull quotes from.
“Ask them if there is anything that they want to add, edit, or delete, and then make sure that you get their consent.” - Diana Farias Heinrich
This is also the time to check if they want to back out Diana explains.
“Don't worry if you've changed your mind, no harm done. Reassure them that, especially in a nonprofit situation, they're not going to stop receiving services just because they decided not to share their story.” - Diana Farias Heinrich
2. Provide follow-up contact information.
Diana explains that they might decide in the future that they do not want their story online, so they need a way to contact you.
“Better yet, create a policy and set a time limit for how long you use someone's stories in your materials.” - Diana Farias Heinrich
All these steps will help us to tell stories in an ethical way.
“I’m confident that if people use the EquaStory framework, then they will be able to share stories with confidence - confidence that it's going to be impactful and confidence that they're not going to end up doing more harm than good.” - Diana Farias Heinrich
To hear the full conversation I had with Diana Farias Heinrich on the Learning for Good Podcast, scroll all the way up and tune into episode 96.
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