BY Diana Williams, Program Manager, TFN’s Smart Growth California
On a recent flight, the man sitting next to me struck up a conversation about California wildfires. Let’s just say he had some opinions.
A month ago, I’d have felt a little trapped. (Actually, I still felt a little trapped, but that’s also because it was a four-hour flight.) But thanks to TFN’s 25th Anniversary Conference, I had a new framework in my back pocket that helped me understand what was going on: cultural mindsets.
Here’s what happened.
My seatmate blamed the wildfires on government and environmentalists, full stop. He talked about mismanagement, lax enforcement, and how environmentalists won’t let anyone clear away underbrush. Never mind that climate change plays a role and that environmentalists aren’t exactly fans of dead underbrush. It didn’t make a dent.
Then it clicked: Aha! This wasn’t a policy debate. It was about worldview. My seatmate didn’t just think the system was flawed, he thought it was rigged and that others were to blame.
This was a real-time example of something I’d learned a few weeks earlier about narrative change from Nat Kendall-Taylor of the FrameWorks Institute at TFN’s conference: a growing number of Americans interpret the world through lenses of fatalism and othering.
It’s not just that people disagree. They’re starting from completely different premises. And when someone believes the system is out to get them, and that working together is no use, dialogue ends, problem-solving is blocked and trust in the democratic process erodes.
Sound familiar?
Cultural Mindsets as a Powerful Tool
TFN25 panelists for the session Effective Narratives In an Era of Mistrust (left to right): Jess Zetzman, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; Jonathan Tran, The California Endowment; Robert Avruch, formerly of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative; and Nat Kendall-Taylor of FrameWorks Institute. Photo credit: Diana Williams
Here’s the hopeful part: Mindsets can shift. With the right framing, language, and strategy, we can open up space for new perspectives to take root, changing what people believe is possible.
We dove into how mindsets shift — and what makes storytelling resonate — alongside more than 80 funders from towns and cities across the country. Together, we wrestled with a simple (but not-so-simple) question: Why do some stories shape the future, while others fade into the noise?
The workshop was moderated by Robert Avruch, who led a narrative campaign to change how Californians view housing for the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. Others sharing their expertise were Jonathan Tran of The California Endowment, who focuses on community infrastructure for grassroots groups to build their own narratives, and Jess Zetzman of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, whose job includes synchronizing the many different narrative efforts unfolding within her foundation.
Leaving the Echo Chamber
Kicking off the conversation, Avruch opened with a sobering truth: millions of people get their news from platforms like Fox News and Breitbart, and dismissing these audiences is a critical error. We have to resonate outside of liberal echo chambers.
This is where cultural mindsets come in.
Cultural mindsets are part of how we process information — intellectually, emotionally, and through unconscious beliefs, Kendall-Taylor said. We all hold multiple mindsets at once, and they can shift over time. But these dominant mindsets are fueling division in our national political and cultural discourse:
Individualism: the belief that outcomes like health or economic status are solely the result of personal choices, overlooking systemic forces at play.
Fatalism: a sense of helplessness in the face of complex problems like climate change and inequality, reinforcing a belief that “the system is rigged” and leading to widespread disengagement.
Other-ism: An “us vs. them” mentality that weakens empathy and solidarity across race, class, or geography.
When fatalism, individualism, and othering dominate, it’s harder to imagine shared solutions or care about the common good. Democracy requires a sense of shared fate, and these mindsets fracture that foundation. (Here’s a timely example of this phenomenon.)
Nearly three-quarters of Americans believe that the system is rigged, across all incomes and ages, Kendall-Taylor said.
The Battle for Common Sense
The Effective Narratives In an Era of Mistrust session drew a packed audience at our TFN25 anniversary conference in Baltimore. Photo credit: Diana Williams
So if people have certain mindsets, what’s the best way to speak in ways that resonate? Some common mistakes to avoid:
Don’t frame everything as a crisis. Too often, messaging from advocates and foundations leans on crisis, urgency, and despair. This can lead to burnout and inaction.
Offer Specific Solutions: Instead of presenting overwhelming problems like “solve climate change” or “fix our broken electoral system,” offer digestible actions: “install solar panels on rooftops” or “increase the number of voting locations.” Match the scope of the problem with the scale of the solution.
Don’t Correct Mistakes/Untruths: The research shows that people mis-remember myths as true and this gets worse over time, Kendall-Taylor said. Instead of correcting fake news, find the narrative that moves the story you want to tell and put it on repeat.
Describe the Problem, Not the People. Labels like “vulnerable,” “environmentalist,” or “conservative” can trigger assumptions and shut down listening. Kendall-Taylor called this pre-motivated reasoning — when people hear a word and think, “That’s not me.” Instead of short-handing, describe the problem. Rather than “vulnerable communities,” say, “communities where families lack access to safe housing or clean water.” This invites empathy and avoids triggering an “othering” response.
Change is Constant
Offering hope, Kendall-Taylor reminded us that contests for narrative power take place all the time.
Voting laws, smoking bans, seatbelt laws, and marriage equality are just a few examples of ideas that moved from fringe to mainstream, forcing public policy shifts along the way as they become “common sense.”
Reframing ideas to connect with the values people hold — and offering a hopeful path forward — is at the heart of a successful narrative. And once you find the right message, Kendall-Taylor emphasized, repeat it again and again.
Narrative Power for Health Equity
Jess Zetzman shared insights from her work with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the HealthEquity Narrative initiative. Her team has created the HealthEquity Narrative House — a framework uniting changemakers with a shared story rooted in justice, equity, and community.
One key challenge? Many people working in health and racial equity don’t see themselves as part of a movement, she said, even though they’re working toward the same goal. Zetzman’s work focuses on creating more alignment — not through uniform language, but by rallying around shared values and narratives that resonate across sectors.
Within RWJF, her team is also mapping narrative investments, coding grants that support storytelling, and creating affinity groups to deepen collaboration. This methodical, ecosystem-wide approach is beginning to pay off.
Narrative as Infrastructure
Jonathan Tran of The California Endowment reminded us that narrative isn’t a one-off campaign — it’s infrastructure. Like organizing or advocacy, storytelling must be nurtured, funded, and sustained over time.
Tran focuses on building narrative power in communities — especially those historically denied the right to tell their own stories. This work amplifies grassroots voices, supports cultural workers, and centers lived experience in discussions about health, safety, housing, and justice.
When communities own their own narrative, they build more than the power of persuasion; they build actual power — the foundation for long-term change.
The Role of Philanthropy
Across foundations large and small, Avruch observed there’s lack of alignment in three key areas:
Research: The research ecosystem is fragmented, with little connection between what’s being produced. This leads to wasted consultant resources, as the same questions are asked repeatedly.
Aligning actors / table-setting: While efforts are underway to bring key players together — such as frontline advocates, journalists, and others — there’s often no clear space for shared strategy, collaboration, or collective action.
Resourcing it all: Coordination between funders remains a significant gap, complicating the work across the board.
Where Next?
Nat Kendall-Taylor of FrameWorks Institute presents on the need to collaborate and organize around cultural mindsets and narratives at TFN25. Photo credit: Diana Williams
For all our talk of alignment, philanthropy remains famously individualistic. Can we still afford that? This was the unspoken challenge on the table by the end of the workshop.
Philanthropy’s long-view and flexibility are powerful assets. What would it take to step outside funder silos, beyond cultural and political echo chambers? What would it take to let go of assumptions each foundation might have about what will work, and develop broader narrative strategies that tap into what genuinely moves people to act?
We’re not starting from scratch, our panelists noted. Narratives change all the time — and this moment is living proof.
Stay connected: If you’re a funder looking to continue peer learning around journalism, media and narrative change, please reach out to TFN’s Senior Director of Communications Tere Figueras Negrete at tere@fundersnetwork.org.
About the Author
Diana Williams is program manager for Smart Growth California, an initiative of The Funders Network. Based in Sacramento, Diana has a background in journalism, nonprofit leadership and philanthropy. Learn more about Diana and the Smart Growth California team here.
➡️Read more TFN25 Reflections
- Ron Milam, director of Smart Growth California, shares his Top 5 TFN25 Takeaways
- Kerry Hastings of TFN’s Urban Water Funders shares her thoughts on Water, Workforce, and Ways Forward: Urban Water Funders at TFN25