Transformative Stories: A Framework for Crafting Stories for Social Impact Organizations Melissa G. Bublitz, Jennifer Edson Escalas, Laura A. Peracchio, Pia Furchheim, Stacy Landreth Grau, Anne Hamby, Mark J. Kay, Mark R. Mulder, and Andrea Scott This article provides a framework to guide the construction of transformative stories by social impact organizations (SIOs) including nonprofit organizations, public policy entities, and for-profit social benefit enterprises. This framework is built from the integration of the academic literature on narratives and narrative construction relevant to SIO story construction. This transformative story construction framework outlines how SIOs can assemble and craft authentic and effective stories that convey the organization’s impact, engage audiences, and call those audiences to action as well as how SIOs can develop and manage a portfolio of such stories. The framework also provides recommendations to guide the marketplace practice of transformative story construction by SIOs. Finally, the authors pose questions to engage SIOs in collaborative research to refine the practice of constructing stories with the power to transform. Keywords: narrative processing, storytelling, social marketing, nonprofit marketing, transformative consumer research E very day in the communities where we live and work, social impact organizations (SIOs) such as nonprofit organizations, government and public policy agencies, and for-profit social benefit enterprises work to address some of the world’s most pressing social problems: poverty and health disparities, addiction and overconsumption, accessi- bility and food well-being, sustainability and waste, and racism and social justice. Organizations dedicated to these profound societal challenges frequently struggle both to adequately communicate the complex problems they are facing and to present solutions to these problems to their multiple audiences. In today’s crowded and noisy market- place, so many entities are trying to develop messages to capture the public’s attention that it is difficult for SIOs to break through the clutter, effectively communicate their mis- sion and impact, and move an audience to action. For these reasons, many organizations focused on social impact identify stories as a vital marketplace tool that can provide insight into the intersectional social problems they address as well as secure audience attention, engagement, and action (Goodman 2015). Stories are character-centered narratives focused on the goals, motives, obstacles, and struggles a character faces over time (Haven 2007). In fact, 96% of nonprofits regard stories as central to their com- munications, and most expect the importance of stories for their organizations to increase (Dixon 2014). Such attitudes are well grounded: The Center for Social Impact Commu- nication, for example, reports that “reading a story on social media” was the primary motivator leading donors and vol- unteers to offline actions such as giving and volunteering (Dixon 2013). That is because stories offer organizations seeking social impact the opportunity to build bridges between their cause or mission and their audiences in a compelling, memorable, and authentic way. Stories span worldviews and enable an SIO’s constituents to see and feel the lives of the people the organization serves: a mother who struggles to feed her children, a drug-addicted teenager who lives on the streets, or a newly arrived immigrant learning to speak English. Melissa G. Bublitz is Assistant Professor of Marketing, University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh (e-mail: bublitzm@uwosh.edu). Jennifer Edson Escalas is Associate Professor of Marketing, Vanderbilt University (e-mail: jennifer.escalas@owen.vanderbilt.edu). Laura A. Peracchio is Professor of Marketing, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee (e-mail: lperacch@uwm.edu). Pia Furchheim is Junior Lecturer in Marketing, University of Lausanne (e-mail: pia.furchheim@unil.ch). Stacy Landreth Grau is Professor of Marketing Practice, Texas Christian University (e-mail: s.grau@tcu.edu). Anne Hamby is Assistant Professor of Mar- keting and International Business, Hofstra University (e-mail: anne.m. hamby@hofstra.edu). Mark J. Kay is Associate Professor of Marketing, Montclair State University (e-mail: kaym@mail.montclair.edu). Mark R. Mulder is Assistant Professor of Marketing, Pacific Lutheran University (e-mail: muldermr@plu.edu). Andrea Scott is Assistant Professor of Marketing, Pepperdine University (e-mail: ascott@pepperdine.edu). The authors thank the 2015 TCR Conference chairs for challenging them to research intersectional transformative consumer research is- sues and helping them tell their story. The authors hope this article will assist nonprofit organizations, public policy entities, and for-profit social benefit enterprises engaged in social change. Julie Ozanne served as associate editor for this article. © 2016, American Marketing Association Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, Ahead of Print ISSN: 0743-9156 (print) DOI: 10.1509/jppm.15.133 1547-7207 (electronic) 1