IRIS is working toward a time where the work of independent storytellers—in concert with civic innovators and movements driving toward narrative shift—is widely-accepted, influential and generously supported.
Photographer Lameck Orina.
Courtesy of BlackRhino VR AR/VR Hackathon.
Together with funders and civil society leaders, we work to strengthen and support networks and initiatives that initiate new conversations and collaborations between independent storytellers and journalists and community-based movements, informed by narrative strategies.
IRIS began in 2019 as an incubated initiative within the Ford Foundation’s International Programs. The goal was to design and model a fully-integrated storytelling and narrative strategy. Over two years, the Foundation supported 40 cross-strategy storytelling and narrative grants supporting impact around gender, racial and ethnic justice, natural resources and climate change, civic engagement and government, technology and society and the future of work. In 2021, based on this successful experiment, IRIS launched as a new donor collaborative. The Compton, Children’s Investment Fund, Ford, Open Society and Skoll Foundations are the founding donors of IRIS.
As a young organization, IRIS does not accept grant applications or have an open call fund. However, team members frequently have informational conversations to exchange ideas and experiences. We welcome a brief inquiry for an informational call sent to info@storyforimpact.io. If there is interest, an IRIS team member will respond within seven days. However, we do not accept unsolicited grant applications.