Introducing

Ethical Narrative for nonprofits!

It's no secret that video is important for your fundraising.

In fact, 57% of people who watch nonprofit videos go on to make a donation according to recent YouTube statistics.

Inside Ethical Narrative, you'll get everything you need to unleash the power of video for your nonprofit fundraising. 

Join our waitlist and be notified of our next group offering!

Can you relate to this?

You want to create work that does good in this world.You know that video is an essential part of communication today.
You need to produce this work quickly.
You are unsure of how to approach video when your organization helps people from vulnerable populations.
You wish there was a way to create effective video content while honoring your participants fully in the process.

Good news!

We have done the work to solve these problems for you and we want to share them with you! 

First we need to address some of the common myths that hold many people back when it comes to storytelling. 

  • Good intentions are not enough. You need a system and a process to use to carry out those good intentions.

    I felt the same way, that being caring alone was enough, but after 20 years in journalism, looking back, I know that I made many unintentional mistakes.

    It's human nature to pass on learned stories. We hear certain stories over and over, certain stereotypes, and we are destined to repeat them if we don't do the work to untangle those narratives and create a new one. Storytellers must do this work before they take on sensitive stories.

    This is why we developed our Anti-Stereotype Strategy.

  • Video professionals never want to cause harm when filming sensitive stories. But the demands of the job and lack of preparation in this space can cause the storytelling process to be re-traumatizing for those they are filming.

    Filmmakers have so many things on our minds on filming day, camera settings, lighting, audio, logistics. Even when you care deeply about your topic you can easily overlook the most important thing of all: the emotional needs of the person you are filming.

    And trust me, being filmed is always an emotional experience. For those who are asked to re-live traumatic experiences on camera - it is even more important to be aware of their needs.

    Our Compassionate Camera Method, and Support Person Toolkit helps set us up to provide an empowering experience for participants.

  • When storytelling is done right, it can be beneficial for your participants. It treats them as your valued partner and shows them that you are listening and invested in their life's story.

    By avoiding storytelling with your participants, you unintentionally send them the message that there is something shameful about their situation.

    Connecting with your participants through intentionally empowering storytelling is beneficial to everyone involved.

    Our Storytelling as a Mirror lesson demonstrates this.

    Now, there are some times where public storytelling is not a good idea for certain people, like those who may be in danger. One must assess the person's mental health and readiness to participate.

  • This concept is fiercely defended in both journalism and artistic spaces. The reasoning behind it is that the content creator is the expert and letting the subject have a say in the piece would degrade the final product. We are taught that vanity on the part of the subject would interfere in portraying the truth.

    We disagree. This attitude sets up an unfair power dynamic that can bring great harm to the people who share their vulnerable stories with us. We have used a variety of new ways to involve participants in the creative process and have had fantastic results. Our stories are more aligned, more accurate and create a better rapport with storytelling participants as a result.

  • Yes, video production can be time-consuming and expensive - but it doesn't have to be.

    With the right planning, education and practice you can film, edit and publish some wonderful video stories in just one day. The key is to have a solid plan.

    This efficiency on small projects allows you resources to invest on the larger, more important ones.

    We share several Quick Story Strategies in our training as well as instruction for longer projects.

  • The best films are created by great storytellers - and the type of equipment is secondary. In fact buying expensive, complicated video gear can easily overwhelm someone who is just starting out.

    The best path forward is to utilize what you already have: your mobile phone. The video power of mobile phones is incredible and you could spend years pushing the limits of what you can accomplish with it.

    Our Quick-Start Video system will show you how to create a fully functional mobile video creation kit for $400 that works with your mobile phone.

6 Myths of Video Storytelling

Who is this training for?

  • Nonprofit communications professionals

    For those working in communications we will teach you everything you need to know to get set up as a productive, socially responsible video storyteller.

    After creating a strong foundation you will learn how to lead visual professionals on large projects and how to create smaller, quick turnaround stories for social media.

  • Any communications professionals who work on storytelling of a sensitive nature.

    This training is perfect for any communications professionals who tell sensitive stories for their organizations, such as hospitals, government agencies and philanthropic arms of businesses.

  • Video professionals who tell sensitive human stories.

    If you want to tell sensitive stories for nonprofit and other organizations you need this training. Organizations are looking to hire filmmakers who are trained to take care of their participants well.

    We will provide a certification upon completion of this program that will help demonstrate your commitment to this practice.

What Our Students Say

  • "As a former journalist working in communications for nonprofits, I was so excited to see this training. Every nonprofit wants to tell the story of its impact on the community. How you tell that story is important. This training makes sure you put the storyteller first and that you have the tools and resources you need to make the experience empowering."

    Lori Hanley, United Way Capital California Region

  • "The partner exercises were probably my favorite part of the curriculum. Discussing viewpoints and working together was helpful to our team chemistry. I definitely think its a vital part to the program. I would say that this program had really nice knowledgeable teachers doing their best to create more ethical stories."

    Garrett Rich, Native American Health Center

  • "The training was really helpful in highlighting the small things we may overlook that are actually really important, such as the language we use to talk about storytelling projects. The mini-media training at the end of the course was really useful for those who may need to prepare participants and other staff for interviews with journalists and other media professionals, and the guest speaker who provided it was great. There are also a lot of great templates provided..."

    AJ A. Media Marketing Program Manager

  • " Worth it! It’s always helpful to take a step back and put yourself in the shoes of the individual you are considering to interview. Taking the time to be thoughtful while thinking of questions to ask while building trust. I am working on a Video for the organization and will help me do more of these videos to help get out the world on our programs and to expand into communities."

    Lili Bach, United Way Capital California Region

Hello!

We are Tamara and Autumn!

We are are visual journalists who create video content for nonprofits so that they can raise money in a socially responsible way.

Together, we have developed a unique, trauma-informed storytelling process that improves HOW stories are told publicly.


We created this training to answer the pressing questions that are NOT covered in school, like how to approach difficult topics in storytelling without exploiting others and how to produce video content quickly but in a socially responsible way.

Our training helps you achieve a win-win position in video storytelling one where you can both meet the fundraising goals for your organization AND do it in a values aligned way.

What Community Members Say

  • "I highly recommend Tamara as a thought leader in combining social work with visual storytelling because she knows from lived experience and professional intelligence how to safeguard victims as they share their stories. Tamara has mastered social work modalities specific for crime survivors, such as narrative therapy. She keeps herself informed on best practices to increase the support for survivors that may experience mental health symptoms such as flooding of memories provoked by storytelling. Her skill level combined with her high level of empathy for victims creates a safe, comforting process for victims to share their stories."

    Tina Rodriguez, Beloved Survivors Trauma Network

  • " Autumn is an amazing in her comfortable approach. She got to know me and my story and really told it well in her video."

    Anonymous storytelling participant for The Steinberg Intitute

What’s Inside

Module 1: Foundations

In this module we will cover an overview of the issue and why ethical storytelling is important.
We will get you started with the right mindset. You will complete partner work that will set you up with support within your organization.
We will explain our concept of Storytelling as a Mirror and how you can use this power for good.
We will cover all of the pre-story decisions you need to make including consent, compensation and review policies.

Module 2: Pre-Production

In this module you will do the essential work that is often overlooked in storytelling.
You will complete our Anti-Stereotype Strategy to build a framework for creating a socially responsible message for your organization.
You will learn "Storyfinding" skills, how and why to research your topics before filming and how to prepare your interview questions.
We also include essential communications checklists to streamline your process.

Module 3: Production

In this phase we cover how to create a welcoming and sensitive environment for participants using our Compassionate Camera Method.
We empower you with the tools you need to create a trauma informed environment including a Support Person Toolkit, ideas for deeper collaboration with participants, a Demystifying the Set diagram, a language cheat sheet and more.

Module 4: Post-Production

In this module we cover how to provide proper communication, aftercare and support for participants after their story is published.
Included is a template to create your own post-story survey.

Module 5: Story Strategy

In this module we take all of the information you have learned and help you create a storytelling strategy.
We share our Mini-Method which is our way to apply these big concepts to smaller stories.
We share our Quick-Start Video system with tutorials for simple technology to create quick video content.
We also share 3 Short Story Strategies to create quick, engaging social media content.
We will also share the basics of storyboarding for your larger projects.

Module 6: Mini-Media Training

This popular training helps you understand journalists, what they need, what they value and how to partner with them in a mutually beneficial way.

Contains training and practical advice from guest speaker, Dorsey Griffith, who has worked on both sides of storytelling, as a veteran journalist and public relations professional. 

 

 FAQs

  • This is a 4 week self-paced program run in cohorts.

    You should time block 3-4 hours per week to complete it.

    -1 Hour for our group coaching call

    -1 Hour for listening to our pre-recorded lessons

    -1 Hour for your partner work

  • Yes, you will recieve personal guidance in creating a video during this training program. We will give you the step-by-step instructions to film and edit a complete, ready to publish video by the end of this program. You will film with your mobile phone and edit with free software.

    This video will be a "meet our staff" video about your storytelling partner.

    Even if your role is to never pick up a camera for your organization, it is vital to experience being on BOTH sides of the camera in order to do this work most effectively.

  • The partner work is a key component of our program. Even if you run a very small nonprofit, you should bring a partner because we all need support in order to grow. This partner could be a board member or anyone who is invested in the success of your nonprofit.

    For solo filmmakers, your partner can be from a different company.

  • Most people who work in nonprofits care about ethics. That's why they got into this work in the first place! However, we are working in a broken system, one that has a history of racism, sexism and classism. We know, from experience, that even caring people can unintentionally create harm by utilizing the old framework. We have created a system that has put ethical storytelling concepts to the test in real world situations. This system centers your participants as owners of their own stories and creates new opportunities for a deeper level of consent, communication and collaboration.

  • It is not required to change your consent polity to experience the benefit of our system. We know that institutional change takes time and we want to encourage this change. The method contained in this training is free to implement and doesn't require multiple levels of approval. This system helps you create stories that are so positive in nature that it will reduce the need for particpants to withdraw consent. While we will cover the pros and cons of compenation and other policies, we leave it up to your organization to make the final decsions.

  • This program will save you time and money. You will get the benefit of deep experience that saves you the time of developing and testing a strategy on your own. You will get checklists, workbooks, templates and personal guidance that puts you on the fast track to video in a very short period of time.

    Our Quick-Start video saves you thousands of dollars on video equipment.

    Our ethical guidance helps you avoid the legal, financial and public relations troubles that occur when participants want to withdraw consent for your storytelling content.

  • Nonprofits that tell stories about animals or topics that are not sensitive in nature do not need this training.

    (Don't get us wrong, we love animals! :-)

Enroll Now!

Join us for our next program which begins on June 12.

  • Our next cohort begins class on June 12 and ends on July 10, 2023.

  • TWO people from one organization can enroll at this price. It is essential to work with a partner.

  • You should time block 3 hours per week for 4 weeks to complete the course: 1 hour for the group meetings 1 hour for the partner work and 1 hour to review the material.

  • We understand that plans change. You may receive a full refund any time before the first day that the course begins.

Creating compassionate content in communities.