The Narrative Ecosystem

People + organizations involved in the study, production and use of strategic narrative texts.

Studying Texts

Narrative scholars
Narratologists

“How are these stories different from other stories?”
“How are these stories being used?”
“What is the impact of their use?”

Producing Texts

Communications professionals
Storytelling consultants

“How do we produce better stories?”
“How do we tell stories that make an impact?”
“How do we produce texts ethically?”

People

Narrative Texts

Institutions

Academics

Practitioners or Communicators

Educators + Trainers

Organizational storytelling or corporate storytelling

Impact storytelling

Universities

Nonprofit funders and think tanks

Nonprofits and social change organizations

Communications agencies

  • Narrative scholar: Someone who studies narrative texts.

  • Narratologist: Someone who studies the use and impact of narrative texts.

  • Narrative researcher: Someone who studies narrative texts that they collect, such as interviewing asylum seekers and analyzing the collected texts.

  • Storytelling: Someone with expertise in the art of telling stories (for entertainment or professional public speaking).

  • Strategic Storytelling: Communications professionals who use storytelling as part of their communications strategy.

  • Teaching communications professionals how to incorporate narrative into their communications strategy.

  • Teaching communications professionals or spokespeople how to tell stories that are persuasive.


  • Stories narrated by an organization or corporation. These stories are told as part of the organization’s communications work, as “strategic storytelling”, and can include news articles, social media posts and public speaking events.

  • Stories about real people, narrated by a nonprofit, NGO or social change organization, that describe the human impact of the organization’s work. Impact storytelling is a specific subsection of organizational storytelling and presents unique ethical concerns.


  • Provide narrative education

  • Sponsor research projects about narrative

  • Fund research to inform better communications practices by nonprofits

  • Employing narrative techniques to improve their communications

  • Employing narrative change as a social change strategy

  • Selling communications services to nonprofits and social change organizations, specializing in storytelling and narrative change.