“It’s not enough anymore to just create a piece of nice storytelling. It should fit into a larger narrative that has an impact on the world.”
Resource Media is a nonprofit creative change agency that has been working with nonprofits in the water, environment, health, and social justice space for over 20 years. Most of their work has been gained through word of mouth, through longstanding relationships and sticking with their partners through years of collaboration, policy wins and losses, building brands, community organizing, and power mapping. What makes Resource Media stand out are the relationships they hold and the integrity with which they approach their storytelling. Below, learn more in this Q&A from Aly Ferguson, Refugio Mata, and Sian Wu of Resource Media.
We work with great causes and great people because there is so much change that needs to happen, through the power of communications. We are intentional with our time and energy, so we can dedicate it to projects that truly make an impact.
Our work is also deeply personal for us — not just in the philosophical sense, but in our lived experiences. Our team in Los Angeles come from and are part of the communities we feature in the “Water Legacy LA” video storytelling project that we have been collaborating on with the Water Foundation, as part of the Safe, Clean Water Program.
We seek to elevate the stories of how our local community members are leading the way in taking action to create positive change — particularly at a moment when so much of the news weighs heavily on all of us. Our people are powerful, and through our storytelling we lean into reminding ourselves — and each other — that we in fact come from resilient people and that we always aspire and fight for a better tomorrow.
Storytelling has been an important piece of movement building and social change for generations. How have you seen the world of storytelling evolve over the years and where would you like to see it go next?
Storytelling as a concept within the professional world has evolved to adapt to media consumption habits and to some extent politics. Before, brands and organizations would say, “Let’s do a storytelling project and make sure everyone knows all the great things we’re doing, or how horrible the problems are that we’re tackling.” They would basically use it as a compelling way to make their case as an organization to justify their mission or approach. I think now there is more listening going on, where organizations are putting an ear to the ground and figuring out what are the stories and narratives that are out there, that are shaping how we should be responding with funding and initiatives? It’s not enough anymore to just create a piece of nice storytelling. It should fit into a larger narrative that has an impact on the world.
You’ve been collecting stories from Safe, Clean Water Project grantees. Is there a central theme or trend you’ve identified in those conversations? Why do you think it showed up?
Through the collection of stories from SCWP grantees, we’ve heard an appreciation that this is even happening and the thoughtful investment in documenting their stories. The work being done throughout Los Angeles County is extremely important, and through this storytelling grantees are able to further educate, invite in, and engage with community members both on their block and throughout the county. Whether it’s a community bike ride across the Santa Fe Dam or kayaking in Long Beach, participants get to connect with water in ways that feel personal and grounded to their corners of the county — wherever we live, work, or play, we care for Los Angeles in our own way and get to contribute to building it up for the next generation.
When it comes to working/partnering with philanthropy, what works? What needs to change? How can philanthropy be a better partner to nonprofits and grantees?
We think that philanthropy works best when there is time invested into truly listening to grantees and what movements are needed, while also learning from lessons from the field to inform future funding. Culturally, philanthropies could learn lessons from organizations that are having a profound impact, but the way that they go about it is not in typical nonprofit-speak. There is an organizational ecosystem that our progress depends upon, sometimes those organizations are laying pillar cornerstones that take a long time to establish, sometimes they’re weaving invisible threads that connect people and ideas. Philanthropies have the power to give all these organizations the capacity to come together and realize shared narratives, so that all of our work can break out of silos and have a greater impact.
Tell me about the connection between storytelling and organizing. How does Resource Media work to make this connection clear across its work?
Resource Media’s theory of change is grounded in a deep understanding of human behavior, social norms, and the decision-making structures that shape how people move from awareness to action. Our team brings this insight to life by pairing research and data with community storytelling wisdom, digital strategy, and powerful creative imagery that reflects the values of the audiences we seek to engage.
Storytelling is an essential extension of organizing — a powerful way to inspire action is to connect with your audience on a personal level, creating an emotional resonance with what is being articulated. A human story can move people to react in more visceral ways than what a data point, or a study, or an analysis full of “expert” jargon ever could on their own.
There’s a reason why stories grab us when they tap into our lived experiences, and we identify with the characters of the story. The mother who wants to protect her child from being exposed to polluted water. The farmworker who speaks up about dangerous conditions in the extreme desert weather heat. The young person who helps deliver groceries and other supplies for elderly neighbors because it’s too risky to go outside as a result of a natural disaster. It’s our job to tie all these stories together through a shared narrative that tap into the shared values of an organized movement, and transform the abstract and distant into the real and immediate.
As human beings, we are wired psychologically first and foremost to understand what’s happening around us through our senses and our lived experiences — meaning, what we feel in the flesh. Resource Media guides our partners to lean into the power of storytelling to shine a spotlight on the experiences of the communities they serve.
And we do so by zeroing in on how a story can help elevate a broader community narrative that builds power and helps ignite social change. We do so by grounding our interviews, story treatment, and editing and production process in ethical storytelling practices that honor and respect the dignity of the people sharing their stories — taking care to not fall into extractive pitfalls that can happen in advocacy spaces.
For far too often, marginalized communities — particularly BIPOC — have had their stories told by others, for outsider purposes. We center the communities we feature as the heroes and protagonists, ensuring their stories are by them and for them, inviting the viewer to join their leadership, in a quest for transformative change.