Narrative Change Strategic Investment Framework

Narrative change refers to:

Strategies that harness the power of narratives — in entertainment, in news, in movement spaces, and in the broader culture — to shift public mindsets and generate culture change toward equity and justice.

As these approaches gain ground in philanthropy and advocacy circles, many questions remain about what makes narrative change strategies more likely to be successful.

With these questions in mind, the USC Norman Lear Center’s Media Impact Project embarked on a research project to identify evidence-based best practices for narrative change strategies in the media context and beyond, which we synthesized into an interactive Strategic Investment Framework.

The framework is designed to be used by funders and others who may be considering (or already using) narrative change strategies to design these strategies for maximum impact. It will help you to:

Holistically understand the factors and conditions that maximize the success of narrative change strategies;
Consider how light or heavy of a lift a narrative change strategy is likely to be, based on the conditions in place; and
Identify ways to strategically design a narrative change strategy to maximize the likelihood of success.

Additional information:

More about the research that informed the framework is available in this report. To learn more about the supporting evidence behind each factor included in the framework, please visit Appendix B in the final report.
Here are some common terms and definitions used in the narrative change field that you will see in the framework.
We encourage you to explore provided factors and and resources as starting points for understanding and contextualizing your planned or potential project.