Ethical Storytelling on Social Media [Webinar Replay]

Episode Overview

• This episode provides a critical examination of ethical storytelling in the nonprofit sector, challenging harmful practices like "poverty porn" and the savior complex.
• Panelists, drawing from their own lived experiences, advocate for a shift from deficit-based language to empowering narratives that highlight systemic issues rather than individual failings.
• The conversation introduces the "community-first, donor-second" mindset, a framework for prioritizing the dignity and needs of the community served over donor expectations.
• The discussion provides practical strategies for nonprofits to share power, platform community voices, and educate supporters to foster more empathetic and sustainable relationships.

Key Concepts

• Ethical Storytelling vs. "Poverty Porn": A core theme is moving away from exploitative narratives that use pity to generate donations ("poverty porn" or "trauma porn") and towards stories that uphold dignity and respect.
• Community-Led Approach: The principle that organizations should be guided by the needs, feedback, and leadership of the communities they serve, rather than by top-down assumptions.
• Lived Experience as a Foundation: The importance of nonprofit leaders having personal, lived experience with the issues their organizations address, which informs a more authentic and empowering mission.
• Language and Narrative Shift: A conscious move away from deficit-based terms ("at-risk," "disenfranchised") towards empowering language that frames challenges as the result of systemic failures, not personal shortcomings.
• "Community-First, Donor-Second" Mindset: A guiding philosophy for decision-making that prioritizes the confidential feedback and well-being of program participants over the preferences or demands of donors.
• Pity vs. Empathy in Fundraising: The distinction between motivating donors through guilt and pity—which creates a toxic, unsustainable dynamic—and motivating them through genuine empathy and a sense of shared humanity.
• Sharing Power and Platforming Voices: The ethical responsibility to move beyond telling stories on behalf of others and instead cede the platform, empowering individuals to share their own experiences in their own words.
• Education for Systemic Change: Using interactions with donors, board members, and funders as opportunities to educate them on evolving language and more ethical practices to drive broader change within the sector.

Quotes

• At 0:01 - "We had over 300 people register for this, which is really a testament to this conversation. I think people are really craving it." - The host comments on the high interest in the webinar topic, suggesting it's a much-needed discussion.
• At 5:10 - "He said, 'How do we talk about children? How do we talk about adults without tokenizing them? How do we do that in the nonprofit world?'" - The host shares the pivotal question that inspired the creation of this webinar, getting to the core of the issue of ethical storytelling.
• At 8:49 - "I asked her the question, 'What do you think more nonprofits should be doing?'... and she said, 'community-led.' And that was another one of those mic-drop moments where I'm like, 'Yes!'" - The host shares a key insight from panelist Dia Parker, highlighting "community-led" work as a fundamental principle for ethical nonprofit practices.
• At 21:28 - "My family and I were displaced from the apartment complex that we had lived in for 15 years… just due to gentrification." - Dia explaining the personal experience that drove her into non-profit and community work.
• At 24:11 - "In 2010... you would have seen them encouraging you to talk about your population as disenfranchised, as saying that these students were at-risk... this was the language that was encouraged." - Dia reflecting on how harmful, deficit-based language was once considered a "best practice" in the non-profit world.
• At 26:30 - "We do like 'mama first, donor second'... when we're making decisions in the org, we have a couple touch points that are built in with our process to where we get confidential, anonymous feedback from our moms, and that's what we refer to when we make decisions." - Jaycina explaining her organization's core philosophy of prioritizing the community they serve over donor expectations.
• At 29:52 - "If you use language to remove the onus from the individual, it's important because, most of the time... it's a result of a broken system." - Jaycina on the importance of using language that frames challenges as systemic issues rather than personal failures.
• At 45:50 - "And you're using... images of pity to to us help them assuage their guilt, then the whole the whole thing is toxic." - Dia explains that using pity-based imagery to motivate donors creates a harmful and unsustainable cycle for a nonprofit.
• At 46:02 - "It's going to be really difficult to ever have... members of the community be in positions of leadership... if you're just doing whatever the donors want all the time." - Dia highlights how a donor-centric model can prevent a nonprofit from achieving its goal of empowering the community it serves.
• At 51:38 - "Everybody, like, we're all moms and that's really what connects us all and there's no difference between our motherhood and us as humans." - Jacina explains the unifying message behind their "Mama Mondays" feature, which highlights both donor moms and moms receiving support to foster a sense of shared humanity.
• At 56:30 - "Are you ready to like platform somebody else? Are you willing to do that? I think that's like the next part of that is like, okay, why does it have to be you?" - When asked how white allies can share BIPOC stories without appropriation, Jacina challenges them to first consider sharing their platform and power instead.
• At 59:20 - "It comes down to relationships and entering the conversation with them with no assumptions." - Dia advises on how to approach long-time donors who may use outdated language, stressing the need to educate rather than alienate them.

Takeaways

• Center the voices and feedback of the people you serve in all strategic decisions, making participation in storytelling optional and never a condition for receiving services.
• Audit your organization's internal and external language to eliminate deficit-based terms, and actively work to reframe challenges as systemic issues rather than individual failings.
• Motivate donors through empathy and shared humanity instead of pity and guilt to build more sustainable, respectful, and less toxic funding relationships.
• Before telling someone else's story, ask if you are the right messenger and actively seek opportunities to cede your platform and empower them to speak for themselves.
• Treat interactions with supporters who use outdated language as opportunities for education, not alienation, by gently correcting them and explaining the reasoning behind the shift.
• Value and prioritize leadership from individuals with lived experience in the issues your organization addresses, as their insight is critical for authentic and effective work.
• Take tangible social action by financially supporting community-led organizations and speaking up against unethical practices in your own environment when it is safe to do so.