Movements, paradigms, and narrative shifts
Influencing language and shared understanding across movements for the common good is no simple or single thing. Collaborating with leaders in complex systems change, and always working from values, our work has helped to activate on a wide range of issues that, culturally, we tend to avoid.
Our clients operate across a range of theories of change and action, always seeking to clarify highest and best roles. We draft alongside and amplify aligned narratives that celebrate and move us towards progress at every scale. From infrastructure communications, to partnerships across multi-entity and multi-sector organizations, we bring a blend of “languages” to advance a shared vision of a livable planet where people embrace curiosity, connection, and courage, and we all experience belonging and freedom.
Nuclear Nonproliferation
Do Good Better has contributed to a body of work over many years to help bring us closer to nuclear security and safety.
Building on more than a decade supporting Global Zero, an international effort to bring about the verifiable elimination of nuclear weapons on a meaningful timeline, in 2025, Do Good Better helped to align and train the nuclear nonproliferation field on a shared narrative that was informed by years of research, testing, and audience exploration. Rewriting the Narrative on Nuclear Weapons, the resulting narrative strategy and communications guide, has helped to bring funders, think tanks, advocates, frontline community leaders, and communications and campaign teams into a shared story and common language, grounded in quantitative and qualitative data about what moves audiences to learn and take action. The story is distilled as: Every step we take to reduce the threat of nuclear weapons brings us closer to creating the safe and sustainable future we all deserve.
Global Zero was an international advocacy initiative focused on shifting narrative, policy, and grassroots mobilization to abolish nuclear weapons in our lifetime. The idea wasn’t some impossible fantasy: in 2010, a community of military, civic, and political leaders from nuclear-armed states developed a framework — the Global Zero Action Plan — for the phased, verified elimination of all nuclear weapons everywhere. For more than a decade, Do Good Better supported narrative, campaign, and organizational strategy to meet the moment.
Working in deep partnership with the Global Zero team, we co-created narrative strategies for nuclear abolition that helped generate $434 million in earned media, showing a noisy, multigenerational, multi-sector, global movement demanding zero and providing the political backing required to advance diplomacy and policy efforts.
Do Good Better served in a consulting and adjunct staff role for Global Zero over many years, with many communications and messaging wins. Of note was our role in helping to concept and script a video that engaged celebrities on the 5th anniversary of President Obama’s speech in Prague, where he committed to a world without nuclear weapons (contributing to his Nobel Peace Prize). Another video, An Idea That Changed the World, offered a powerful and plausible rallying cry for a world without nuclear weapons, and was covered in many mainstream media outlets.
Collaborators: Cecili Wake, Ploughshares, Nuclear Threat Initiative, ReThink Media, Global Zero, The Metropolitan Group
Disability Rights
People with disabilities in leadership roles in governments, and starring in hit shows and movies. Major foundations embedding a disability rights lens across all of their strategic priorities. Corporations welcoming and supporting greater inclusion and accessibility, for employees and in their products. When the Boston-based Disability Rights Fund (DRF) was founded in 2008, these trends were difficult to imagine, distant if desirable outcomes of global shifts in awareness.
Along with its c4 sister, the Disability Rights Advocacy Fund, DRF resources organizations led by persons with disabilities to advocate that countries implement the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), the most swiftly-ratified human rights convention in history. Today, DRF is among the largest funders of disability rights globally and a recognized leader in the growing practice of participatory grantmaking.
Do Good Better supported DRF communications for more than a decade, from annual reports, to videos and print collateral. Fully-accessible workshops explored a narrative strategy culminating in an embrace of Diversity and Participation across disabilities and geographies, to ensure true Empowerment — taking on Exclusion — and coming to life as the Witness.
Collaborators: Elissa Schloesser, Visual Voice; Andy Isaacson
Liberation from Patriarchal Religion
A collaboration that began with a 5-minute explainer video on 10,000 years of patriarchy — now in 13 languages — has evolved into a deep partnership with brilliant faith-inspired change agents, taking on the difficult, long-term work of understanding and untangling the ways patriarchal religion is often used as a tool of oppression, especially for women and girls.
Girl Child Long Walk is a joint initiative of Imago Dei Fund (based in Boston) and the Institute for Faith and Gender Empowerment (based in Bondo, Kenya). Its core program is a fellowship for faith-inspired change agents, co-designed and supported by Do Good Better and soon to launch its fourth cohort. The network and program are grounded in a nine-month reading journey and include a range of partners and experts leading gender equality work around the world.
Do Good Better hosted an in-person workshop with the team in early 2020 to co-create a narrative strategy that could inform the original explainer video and support a relaunch of the website and reading journey. The Girl Child Long Walk is committed to nurturing Curiosity, leading to greater Awareness, and ultimately personal and collective Liberation — taking on the “villain” of Patriarchal Religion. The effort comes to life as the Reflective Detective: thoughtful permission to question, and evolve. The values and archetype have been revisited and validated over time, as the core team has grown and new efforts have launched.
Collaborators: Elissa Schloesser, Visual Voice; Ruben DeLuna Creative; Marie-Rose Romain Murphy