Over four days in October, a convening organized by International Resource for Impact and Storytelling (IRIS), Puentes, and the Global Narrative Hive brought together more than 120 people in Bogotá, Colombia, to share observations and experiences of doing narrative work that builds the power of global justice movements. The gathering—called Confluence: Building Narrative Power—brought together narrative practitioners, which included activists, journalists, academics, storytellers, campaigners, and funders. The assembly was a reflection of the field’s sophistication and the persistent impact it makes (often in intentionally imperceptible ways), as well as proof of its potential to flourish when we cultivate the right conditions.

From our unique vantage point at the intersection of philanthropy and narrative practice, we offer a fragment of the knowledge participants generously offered that is uncommonly heard within philanthropy. Below, we share some of the implications that these insights hold for the practice of grantmaking and capacity building.

Ecosystem: Fortifying the Infrastructure for Narrative Power

Changing beliefs and behaviors at scale cannot be achieved by a single movement, organization, or campaign. Narrative change is a fundamentally collective endeavor, and the transformation we seek to achieve requires a broad set of actors to work together over time to advance a shared vision.

The ecosystem of narrative practitioners that operate within and alongside global justice movements is diffuse across sectors, issues, and locations. People in this community work from many different theories of change, employ discrete yet complementary strategies, and often view their heterogeneity as a source of strength. Yet, these defining features can make the narrative ecosystem illegible to the uninitiated.

For many, Confluence provided a way to see things about the ecosystem—and the narrative infrastructure it contains—that they had missed previously. Narrative infrastructure is often taken for granted because, like a constellation in the star-filled sky, it takes the astronomical guidance of a trained eye for the picture to appear. Confluence disproved the often asserted and self-defeating claim that the ecosystem has little to no narrative infrastructure to speak of. Moreover, it built on that groundwork by providing the container for myriad actors to converge, counter isolation, grow trust, and expand their collective wisdom.

Philanthropy plays a critical role in the narrative ecosystem. Funders need to make sustained contributions to narrative power building across generations—because that is the time horizon on which narrative change takes place. In addition to making long-term, unrestricted grants—a practice that grantmakers can adopt immediately—funders need to provide resources in a way that centers the ecosystem rather than individual organizations.