Storytelling ethics: dignity, consent and honest images

This guide is for anyone who writes appeals, posts on social media, makes videos or prepares grant reports with stories about real people. Stories raise money because they're about people. That's also why they can hurt people. After reading, you'll know how to get consent that's real, how to avoid images that shame, how to share control with the people in your stories, and the few legal points to watch.

Our guide to telling your story covers finding stories and the basic dignity rules. This guide goes deeper into the ethics, for the harder cases.

The core idea: it's their story

The person in the story owns their experience. Your charity is borrowing it, for a purpose, with permission. Three questions help with almost every decision:

1. Would they recognize themselves, and be comfortable with how they're shown?
2. Would they be comfortable if their neighbor, employer or child saw it, today and in five years?
3. Is this the true story, or the version that raises the most money?

If the answer to any of these is no, change the story or don't use it.

Consent that's real

A signed form is the minimum, not the goal. Real consent means the person understands what they're agreeing to and feels free to say no.

• Explain in plain words where the story will appear, who might see it, and for how long. Show an example.
• Separate consent from help. Say clearly that saying no will never affect the help they receive. Ask at a calm moment, not during a crisis or while they're waiting for a service.
• Ask for each use. Agreeing to a newsletter isn't agreeing to a billboard or a video.
• Use their language. Offer an interpreter or a translated form if needed.
• Let them check the words. Show them the quote or the draft before it's published.
• Make it easy to withdraw, and honor it quickly. You may not be able to recall printed copies, so say so up front.
• Write it down. Our photo and story consent form covers photos, video, names, stories and where you'll use them.

Avoid poverty imagery

Images of suffering, such as a crying child, a dirty room or a person at their lowest moment, can raise money in the short term. They also strip people of dignity, reinforce stereotypes, and can follow someone for years online.

Instead:

• Show people as active, doing something, not only receiving.
• Show the context and the change, not only the problem.
• Avoid "before and after" framing that makes the past self a spectacle.
• Never stage a scene or ask someone to look sadder, poorer or more grateful than they are.
• Don't use generic stock images of suffering to stand in for the people you serve. If you use stock or illustration, don't present it as a real person from your program.
• Check your words too. "Victims," "the needy" or "the less fortunate" define people by a problem. "Families we work with" or "neighbors" doesn't.

Share control

The most respectful stories are told with people, not about them.

• Let people tell it in their own words, in a quote, a recorded interview or a piece they write.
• Offer choices: first name only, a changed name, no photo, a photo without their face.
• Pay or thank storytellers if they give significant time, such as speaking at an event, in a way that doesn't feel like buying their consent. A gift card for a volunteer speaker is different from payment that a person in need can't refuse.
• Invite feedback on how your charity portrays the community, for example from a participant advisory group.

Children and young people

• Get written consent from a parent or legal guardian, and ask the child too, in words they understand.
• Avoid full names, school names and locations that could identify where a child can be found.
• Think about the future. A child can't judge how a story will feel at age 16. Use the least identifying version that still works.

Health information and HIPAA

The federal health privacy rule (HIPAA) applies only to covered entities and their business associates. Most small charities are neither, but some are. A covered entity under 45 CFR 160.103 is a health plan, a health care clearinghouse, or a health care provider that transmits health information electronically in connection with certain standard transactions, such as billing insurance. A business associate is, broadly, an organization that handles protected health information on behalf of a covered entity, for example under a contract with a clinic or health plan. If your charity is a business associate, follow your agreement with the covered entity and ask before using any of that information in a story. If your charity is one, for example a clinic that bills insurers, 45 CFR 164.508 says it generally may not use or disclose protected health information without a valid authorization, and must obtain authorization for marketing uses, with narrow exceptions. A patient story with health details then needs a HIPAA-compliant authorization, not just a photo release. Ask a lawyer.

Even if HIPAA doesn't apply, treat health, immigration status, abuse, addiction and housing details as the most sensitive information you hold. Don't share them without clear, specific permission.

Photos you didn't take

The U.S. Copyright Office explains that copyright belongs to the author of a work. A volunteer or photographer who took a picture usually owns it, even if they gave you a copy. Get their written permission to use it, and agree on credit. Consent from the person in the photo and permission from the photographer are two different things; you need both.

Fundraising and honesty

• Don't exaggerate. Use real numbers and say where they came from.
• Don't imply that one person will receive a donor's gift unless that's true and lawful. Most gifts support a program, not an individual.
• Say when details are changed to protect someone.
• Keep a record of each story: who, consent date, what they agreed to, and where it's been used.

Storytelling ethics checklist

• Every story has written consent for each use, and the person knows saying no won't affect their help
• People can check their words before publication and withdraw later
• We avoid images and words that shame, stereotype or stage suffering
• We offer choices: changed names, no face, first name only
• Children's stories have guardian consent and no identifying details
• We know whether HIPAA applies to us (as a covered entity or business associate), and handle health details with special care
• We have permission from photographers as well as from the people in photos
• We keep a record of each story, its consent and its uses