Ethical storytelling is a communications practice to ethically collect and publish personal stories in service of an organization or initiative, particularly in. the non profit sector.

Ethical storytelling recognizes that:

• Publicly telling someone’s personal story impacts their identity,

• Power imbalances between complicates consent, such as between a nonprofit organization and their beneficiary, and

• Utilizing personal narrative to promote an organization is inherently problematic.

Ethical storytelling is designed to counter power imbalances and protect personal identity, while building support through stories.

Best Practices are emerging:

• A media release isn’t enough; require active and enthusiastic consent.

• Context matters: consent without understanding how the organization plans to benefit from the story is not consent.

• There is no such thing as a “pre-approved” story.

• Simplify your message without simplifying the person; don’t reduce a complex person to a one-dimensional story.