(text is a transcript of the video)
“Most of us aren’t aware of the power that we have. We don’t identify with it. And therefore, we aren’t aware of how we use it in relationship, and in community.” – Author Unknown
So I recently ran a survey of non-profit organizations, because I wanted to find out more about what everyone is dealing with regarding sharing stories about clients for fundraising and for marketing. And so if you filled out that survey, thank you so much. I learned a great deal and it’s really informing how I move this project forward to make it useful for the people who are taking part in it. So thanks for participating in that. And the number one thing that people talked about in the survey as challenges was maintaining privacy and confidentiality of the clients that we serve. So that’s what I’m going to talk a little bit about today.
Some of the strategies that people are using right now to protect privacy and confidentiality include using a composite story. So a composite story is a story that is made up of details from multiple clients, or represents a typical client. Another strategy that I hear a lot about is stripping out the identifying details, or changing details that would identify a client, so things like their age and their name, and how many children they have, or where they lived. I see organizations that are using stock images (or that have policies against using stock images) so not real photos of clients. And another common strategy is to use actors for videos or for audio recordings or to use the real client in a video or audio but to try to shadow out the face, or to alter the voice a little bit. One really cool thing that I’ve seen quite a bit of recently is using caricatures – producing cartoon booklets or comic strips that tell the story in an accessible way. So some really interesting samples of that on file if anyone would like to see them.
And one of the other strategies that I use quite often is to tell my own story of what it was like to serve a client, and again not sharing identifying details, but I think it’s important for us to acknowledge that when we tell a story about somebody else, although it is their story and we should have permission to do that, it also is our understanding and our interpretation of that story. And by acknowledging it as that, we’re able to also say that, as much as we hear stories and we’re touched by them and we connect to them, we can never really fully fathom what somebody else’s experience has been.
And so those are some of the strategies that organizations are using around ethically telling stories about clients.
No matter how well we change or conceal details in a story, there’s always that risk that someone hearing the story is going to think that they recognize the person. And how often have we all been hearing a story and all of a sudden we go “I think I know who that is” or “I think I’ve heard this story before.” And so there’s good and bad to that because of course we are very concerned in that situation about whether privacy and confidentiality have indeed been violated, but there’s also the fact that someone hearing the story connected to it. And so those are things just to be aware of.
One of the things I want to always be thinking about if I’m using elements of a real client story (and again I do need their permission to do that). I want to be thinking about how they’re going to feel if I change, or embellish, or remove some details of the story that may have been really important to their experience. So when I’ve talked to clients who have shared their stories to benefit agencies that have helped them, when the story has been changed, in a whole variety of ways, in some cases they find that very invalidating. And invalidating a client’s experience is a big no no. It is not a good thing to do to somebody.
So this has led me to a process that I’ve actually really come to enjoy and think is quite valuable. And that’s even when we’re not having a client share their story directly, if that client has some stability in their life, and some interest and some willingness, still involving them in the process of how organizations tell the story (invite clients to be expert consultants). So this allows us to tap into the lived experience of clients and their expertise on a lot of different social issues that we deal with. And I think that it gives people a voice and a way to contribute to social awareness without having to personally disclose. So it’s been really fun working with people who have been clients or who have had lived experience and who want to be part of those kinds of projects. I think it shows that the organization values lived experience and recognizes that the client is the expert on these topics. And sometimes it gives clients a way to work together almost, to have that shared experience with other people who have been through the same kinds of things. And it’s a way for organizations to model respect for lived experience and the value of the contributions of clients to our knowledge.
So one of the other things that I’ve heard organizations say in doing this kind of thing is they believe it not only helps clients to make sense of their own experiences, which can be part of the healing process and this can be quite empowering as well, but there is some thought that this also makes people more ready to tell their stories publicly. And I don’t know if that’s true or not. I think it could be true in some cases, and not in others. But it’s a question that we’re asking right now, and watching to see how people experience this and their feedback about participating in storytelling projects as clients working with agencies.
So whatever approach we’re using to protecting privacy and confidentiality, it’s important to be transparent with the audience about what we’ve chosen, and why we’ve chosen it. So if you’re using stock images, make a statement about that. Why is it important? “We need to protect the privacy and confidentiality of our clients.” Explain your reasons for using a composite story or you’re concealing details to protect the clients. And explain that you’ve obtained consent or consulted with clients on a storytelling project. So that’s really a way of modeling respect to the audiences that you’re asking to support your organization. And it’s highlighting the value of those who have lived experience and that can help to combat the voyeurism that we’re commonly seeing now as people choose which charities to support and try to understand their work. And of course we all have an interest in human lives and human stories, and at the same time we don’t want to be turning our clients into products. And that’s just some of the hard stuff about fundraising in this day and age, that non-profits are dealing with all the time. So I’m really encouraging connectedness and respect for everybody.
So on a related note, stay tuned – in an upcoming post I’m going to boldly – no I’m going to cautiously venture forth into what is kind of a foggy swamp of providing compensation for clients who share their own stories. So that’s coming up soon. Thanks everybody!