Journal of a social impact storyteller

Paying for a photograph doesn't make it yours. What UK copyright means for charities and CSR teams, and the four things to agree before any shoot.

Your most powerful stories often belong to people you can't name. How to tell them safely: shape-telling, composites, and what to agree before anything goes public.

A content calendar tells you when to post. A storytelling plan tells you which stories will win funding. Five steps to build one, and who should own it.

Most consent processes protect the organisation, not the person. The Naz Rule and the Consent Protection Spectrum: what leaders should require of every story.

A number on its own is a claim. A number with a person inside it is proof. The One Number Method for impact reports, ESG reports, bids and board papers.

Social impact storytelling shows what changed, for whom, through real people, with consent. What it is, what good looks like, and how to get it done well.

A march, a policy change, a story everyone is talking about. Most charities share someone else's post or go quiet. A three-step method for responding well.

Most impact reports are read once and forgotten. How to build one around people, three numbers and an honest ending, so funders and boards remember it.

Every case study ends in transformation, yet the problems keep growing. How to tell honest stories about unfinished work that funders still want to back.

Most organisations ask how to tell a story and never ask whether they should. Three photographs from a London march, and the question to ask before you publish.

Most impact stories bury the change at the end, where nobody reaches it. How to lead with the transformation, with a before-and-after example you can copy.

Funders back people they trust. Why a charity leader's own story builds that trust, the five parts of a founder story, and a safe, step-by-step way to share it.

Your team can capture ten stories a month and develop two. Four questions that tell you which two, and how to say "not yet" to the rest without letting anyone down.

Hope isn't passive optimism. It's an active choice about what we're willing to work towards. An essay on hope, despair and the stories we tell about what's possible.

Your frontline team sees the best stories first, and most are lost within days. A four-stage system for catching them, starting with a two-minute capture.

Funders ask what success looks like because most answers are lists of activity. One sentence that defines your End Vision, and how it shapes every story you tell.

Most organisations plan which stories to tell before deciding what they need people to feel and do. Start with the Emotional Destination and the rest gets easier.

A peaceful protest in Trafalgar Square, an 81-year-old woman arrested for holding a placard, and why documenting moments like this matters for all of us.

When an organisation goes quiet, someone else tells its story, and rarely accurately. What silence costs, why teams hold back, and three steps to keep stories flowing.

Doing good work is only part of sustaining it. The funder question that stopped me in my tracks, the difference between outputs and outcomes, and how to show both.

Most theories of change stop at the diagram. How to turn yours into a story a board or funder can follow, and why one person's journey can carry the whole model.

Good work stays invisible when leaders and teams don't feel able to share it. The three barriers behind it, what invisibility costs, and how to build the habit.

Impact stories feel hollow when the company is the hero and the community is the backdrop. Why it happens, what partners and staff believe instead, and how to fix it.

A cheque helps for a year. Pictures a charity owns the right to use help for years. How CSR teams can gift a photoshoot to a charity partner, done properly.

Many charity photos quietly cast the people you serve as helpless. Five warning signs, what dignity-first photography looks like, and a brief you can copy.

Social impact is the change your work makes in people's lives and communities, not the activity itself. A plain-English definition, examples, and how to show yours.

The person you hire to tell your story holds real power over the people in it. The RESPECT framework, the red flags to watch for, and what to ask before you sign.

Climate statistics rarely move people. Small, local, human stories do. How sustainability and ESG teams can bring real people into their reporting, with consent.

Polished photos don't build trust any more. What documentary photography is, why it works for charities, funders and CSR teams, and what to ask for.

A ten-minute exercise to turn your programme or project into a story funders and partners remember, plus a free download of The Social Impact Storytelling Framework.

Seven shifts in social impact storytelling for 2026, and what each means for leaders deciding where to spend limited time and money. Grounded in what I'm seeing.

Social impact photography shows change, with dignity and consent. What makes it work, why most of it falls short, and what to ask for when you commission it.

When the words say one thing and the photos say another, readers trust neither. How to plan social impact stories and photography together, and what to ask for.

Good intentions don't stop corporate community work doing harm. Six ways company purpose goes wrong in the telling, and what CSR teams can do instead.

In a crowded, noisy world, changemakers are heard because they sound like themselves. Why your imperfect, authentic voice is your strongest tool for change.

Hope is a choice. The gift from Naz that shaped my life, what research says hope does to the brain, and why hope sits at the heart of social change.