How do we get people of all political identities to willingly support social progress without compromising anyone’s values? In September 2024, two months before the American public voted Republicans into control of every branch of the US national government, that question was definitively answered at a private, non-political gathering of philanthropic foundation executives and their communications officers.

The Next Narrative Summit was sponsored and facilitated by BMe Community and leading foundations including Robert Wood Johnson, Bill & Melinda Gates, Annie E. Casey, New Pluralists, Nellie Mae, The Kresge Foundation, New Commonwealth Fund, Grantmakers for Effective Organizations, Joyce Foundation, Prudential, Best Buy, Omidyar Network, Comcast NBC Universal, and The Communications Network.

These organizations’ 161 foundation and communications leaders learned how their peers have recently united liberals and conservatives to achieve historic victories on the same issues that traditional appeals are now losing. These new appeals had several commonalities: They define people by aspirations before noting challenges; they replace jargon and fear-triggering with common language and inspiration; and they hold presumed opponents and America accountable without vilifying either. The following examples illustrate the power of next narrative appeals to win civil rights, invest billions for equity, revive educational institutions, and win public support across the political map today.

In 2023—the same year that the US Supreme Court ruling on Students for Fair Admissions caused philanthropists to reconsider their stance on equity goals or avoid using the term “equity” altogether—Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Minnesota (a “blue state”) became the first US city to raise $1 billion in a single year to support racial equity and carbon neutrality. The effort, led by Tonya Allen of the McKnight Foundation, used a next narrative strategy to rally the GroundBreak Coalition—a group of more than 40 corporate, civic, and philanthropic allies—to not only make fundraising history, but also regard their billion dollars as the downpayment on a $5.3 billion goal.

In May 2022, Michigan (a “swing state”) became the first US state to reopen a historically Black college. The next narrative campaign behind the effort, led by former Nike footwear design executive D’Wayne Edwards, won political support and corporate backing to fund and reopen Pensole Lewis College (PLC). In fact, Edwards has relaunched PLC as the only historically Black college specializing in the design industry.

Some of the most impressive gains may be in “red states.” In 2018, Desmond Meade of the Florida Restoration Rights Coalition led a historic campaign using next narrative appeals that overturned 150-year-old laws—an achievement that Democratic leader and activist Stacy Abrams called “the largest expansion of civil and voting rights in a half-century.” Meade’s appeal restored rights to 1.4 million neighbors in Florida who had served their time for past crimes and thereby earned their right to full citizenship. While Governor Ron Desantis quickly erected administrative barriers to the public will, the campaign overcame that too. Over 5 million Republicans, Democrats, and Independents voted together for historic progress.

Sheena Meade, Desmond Meade’s wife, is meanwhile expanding civil rights across the United States using a similar next narrative stance. Her Clean Slate Initiative received $75 million from The Audacious Project to help states automate the process of expunging criminal records once someone has completed their sentence. Her TED Talk on “How Second Chance Laws Can Transform the Justice System” has been viewed more than 1.1 million times.

Finding a New Narrative Norm

The Next Narrative Summit was three years in the making. In 2021, the communications firm Hattaway Communications researched whether social impact appeals that don’t rely on narratives of crisis, fear, and denigration can effectively engage people. The results were game-changing: The firm found a very large market—one that spans all races, genders, ages, regions, and political identities—for next narrative appeals.

Read the full article about values-centered social progress by Trabian Shorters at Stanford Social Innovation Review.