The research is in: how you depict communities determines how they are engaged, what they are funded for, and who gets a seat at the table.
We help organizations act on that finding.
Is implicit bias hindering your impact? Intentional will help you reframe how you depict the people you serve from a sympathy or gratitude-based approach to one that features the advice and guidance of willing advocates.
Intentional’s approach goes beyond ethical storytelling and asset-based framing to reduce implicit bias and change the perception of staff, board, and the public about the capability of people, communities, & countries. Our approach leads to deeper engagement of communities in program design and shifts who gets funded, what gets funded, and how it gets funded.
We develop community-centric plans, projects, campaigns and strategies that change the perception about the capability of people and lead to greater equity and impact.
Intentional can help create community-centric partnerships, advocacy, and communications plans where people advocate for themselves, have presence and power at the tables where decisions are made, control their own stories and images, and meet your organizational goals and objectives.
Our partnership model disrupts the status quo and reimagines more effective roles for philanthropy, the private sector, government and civil society. The partnerships of tomorrow leverage philanthropy as a facilitator, the private sector as an accelerator, governments as builders and civil society as experts.
Our Work Is Grounded in Original Research
Intentional's approach isn't borrowed from the broader narrative-change field — it's built on primary evidence Marshall developed as a researcher and senior foundation leader.
The Perceptions Hub, supported by the Gates Foundation, demonstrated across 15 countries that how communities are depicted shapes what the public believes they're capable of — and what they deserve. FrameWorks Institute research Marshall conceived confirmed the same dynamic in domestic homelessness contexts: depiction determines perceived expertise.
When we help you reframe your communications, we're not offering a framework. We're applying findings.
Intentional’s bespoke nine-step advocacy planning model is community-driven and moves decision-makers to action.
