Change Who Tells the Story. Change What Gets Funded.
We help nonprofits, foundations, and corporations shift from sympathy-based storytelling to community-led advocacy — so the people you serve gain presence, power, and a seat at the decision-making table.
Our Theory of Change
Most organizations depict the people they serve through the lens of trauma and circumstance. That framing — however well-intentioned — quietly signals that communities are problems to be solved, not experts to be consulted.
When you shift the story, everything shifts with it. Staff, boards, and funders begin to see communities differently — not for their challenges, but for their knowledge. Engagement deepens. Program design changes. And so does who gets funded, what gets funded, and how.
Equity and impact start with how you depict people. That's where we begin.
This isn't ethical storytelling, and it's not asset framing — though both matter. Those approaches change how organizations talk about communities. We go further: we change how communities participate in designing the strategies and programs that affect their lives. Depiction is the entry point. Power is the destination."
This Isn’t Theory, It’s Research Based
The Perceptions Hub — a multi-wave study across 15 countries and 14,000 people — found that "active contributor" framings of aid recipients consistently outperform "passive recipient" framings in public perception. FrameWorks Institute research Marshall conceived confirms that how people with lived experience are depicted determines whether the public sees them as experts worth listening to.
The evidence is in. The question is whether your organization is acting on it.
Equity and impact start with how you depict people. That's where we begin.
In this conversation with Africa No Filter's Moky Makura, Marshall explains why narrative change goes beyond ethical storytelling — and how depiction drives funding and impact.
Listening Outperforms Knowing. Every Time.
Most organizations have been conditioned to lead with expertise — to tell donors, policymakers, and the media that they know best for the communities they serve. But the organizations that earn deeper trust, stronger partnerships, and more durable impact are the ones that follow the community’s lead.
We will help you make that pivot: reframing how you communicate, who you partner with, and how you show up in advocacy spaces.
We Do Two Things Really Well.
Intentional isn't a storytelling consultancy. It's a power-redistribution practice that starts with depiction.
Reframe Your Story
Is implicit bias quietly limiting your impact? We audit your existing communications, train your staff, and help you shift how you depict the communities you serve — from sympathy-based narratives to the advice and lived expertise of willing advocates.
The result: staff, boards, and funders perceive communities as capable co-creators — not recipients — and engage them accordingly..
Build Community-Led Strategy
We design advocacy and communications plans where communities don't just appear in the story — they shape it. People advocate for themselves, control their own narratives, and hold real power at the tables where decisions are made.
The outcome aligns with your organizational goals. And it actually sticks.
A New Model for Partnership
This isn't ethical storytelling, and it's not asset framing — though both matter. Those approaches change how organizations talk about communities. We go further: we change how communities participate in designing the strategies and programs that affect their lives. Depiction is the entry point. Power is the destination.
We help you reimagine the roles of philanthropy, the private sector, government, and civil society — positioning philanthropy as a facilitator, business as an accelerator, government as a builder, and communities as the experts they've always been.
Our nine-step advocacy planning process is built around community voice from the start — not added at the end — so that decision-makers are moved to act, not just informed.
Clients
