Center for Story-Based Strategy (SmartMeme)

The Center for Story-Based Strategy advocates for a redistributionist economy as it claims the American economic system is “exploitive” and “stifles political imagination.” In addition, it advocates using the identity politics concept of intersectionality to redistribute capital based on issues related to the environment, race, and poverty. The Center for Story-Based Strategy opposes capitalist economies, stating that “transition is inevitable,” and that a goal of its campaigns is to counter capitalist “propaganda” that it accuses the “government, corporations, and ruling elite” of producing. It reports that it incorporates its anti-capitalist beliefs into its advocacy training. ³

In a December 2023 blog post about using the “Story-Based Strategy” to support the idea of defunding the police, Center for Story-Based Strategy fellow Jesus Valenzuela stated that the campaign was required to be deliberate about what facts were included when presenting a narrative about the topic. He stated that narratives presented by campaigns should focus on information that aligns with real-world data. The blog post stated that support to reduce police budgets was gained by campaigning on specific facts and ideas that created a narrative more favorable to the policy. ⁴

Background

Center for Story-Based Strategy, formerly known as SmartMeme Inc., is a left-of-center organization that was founded in 2002. It provides trainings and advises left-wing organizations on how to use knowledge of literary elements to advance political narratives. ⁵

Principles

Center for Story-Based Strategy’s advocacy is based on far-left concepts on race and climate, with the organization operating under “Anti-Oppression Principles.” The Principles unify all left-wing issues under “holistic analysis,” vowing to “bring power analysis as a lens to all of our work.” The organization claims, “Racism is the single most critical barrier to building effective coalitions for social change” and states that it will “prioritize listening to elders, youth, women, queer folks, and people of color.” ⁶

The group further affirms that it is inspired by other left-wing organizations and statements of intention, including the “Principles of Environmental Justice,” ⁷ the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond’s Anti-Racist Principles, and Haymarket Peoples Fund. ⁶

Center for Story-Based Strategy states that the European Dissent Accountability Statement is one of the documents that guides its principles and advocacy. ⁶ The document is prefaced with a statement that all white people are racist and must accept that belief to “undo racism.” It states that to “undo racism,” white people should attend training that informs them on how they are perpetuating racism and maintain ongoing meetings with anti-racist organizations. It also mandates that supporters should recruit other white people to engage in anti-racism and to only follow Black leaders who align with the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond’s Anti-Racist Principles. ⁸

Center for Story-Based Strategy’s states that its environmental advocacy is guided by the Rainforest Action Network’s “Anti-Oppression Principles.” ⁶ The principles claim that environmental issues are equally connected to social and economic issues. As a result, it states that environmentalist advocacy should address social and economic issues, including from the perspective of people being oppressed by the existence of private companies. ⁹

The Center for Story-Based Strategy’s advocacy is also based on far-left economics concepts, arguing that the American economy is exploitative through its use of natural resources, labor, and “cultural resources.” Instead, it advocates for redistributing capital to fund employment for all persons. Additionally, it advocates for redistributing capital to address race, environmental, and poverty issues while using the identity politics concept of intersectionality. ¹⁰

Trainings

Center for Story-Based Strategy offers political advocacy trainings in which organizations and individuals are taught how to use elements of a story to promote or oppose narratives, depending on advocacy objectives. It explains different literary elements so that narratives promoted by political opponents can be criticized to delegitimize them. The trainings also teach individuals to create stories that persuade individuals to agree with a desired political objective. ¹¹

It offers a four-hour training, for which individuals are charged between $100 and $300, depending on the budget of the organization with which they are affiliated. It also offers a four-day course that costs between $750 and $1,500, also depending on budget size. ¹²

The “Story-Based Strategy” advises activists to frame political issues in favor of their advocacy, to use language that is accessible and appealing to the target audience, and to incite emotional responses. ¹¹

In 2022, Center for Story-Based Strategy reported spending $1.05 million to provide trainings, which were provided to over 300 individuals, and received $375,542 in revenue for its trainings, according to its tax returns. ¹³

Opposition to Nuclear Energy

Center for Story-based Strategy was one of more than 600 co-signing organizations on a January 2019 open letter to Congress titled “Legislation to Address the Urgent Threat of Climate Change.” The signatories declared their support for new laws to bring about “100 percent decarbonization” of the transportation sector but denounced nuclear power as an example of “dirty energy” that should not be included in any legislation promoting the use of so-called “renewable energy.” ¹⁴

Nuclear power plants produce no carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gas emissions, and as of 2021 accounted for 19 percent of American electricity production—the largest source of zero carbon electricity in the United States. ¹⁵ An October 2018 proposal from The Nature Conservancy noted that zero-carbon nuclear plants produced 7.8 percent of total world energy output and recommended reducing carbon emissions by increasing nuclear capacity to 33 percent of total world energy output. ¹⁶

Funding

Between 2012 and 2017, the Ford Foundation disbursed $1.2 million in grants to the Center for Story-Based Strategy. The grants funded campaigns that supported raising the minimum wage and campaigns that advocated for immigrants. ¹⁷

In 2022, the Libra Foundation made $425,000 in grants to the Center for Story-Based Strategy through its donor-advised fund. ¹⁸

The Center for Story-Based Strategy received $75,000 from Mosaic in 2024 to fund its “Frontline Communities Shape the Story: Building Narrative Power for a Just Transition” project. I also received $100,000 from Mosaic in 2023 and $200,000 in 2022 for its “Building Narrative Power for a Just Transition” project. ¹⁹ Mosaic is a grantmaking program that is funded by a coalition of over 15 environmental advocacy organizations that started off with $3 million in funding in 2021 and $6.4 million in 2022. ²⁰

Partner Organizations

Center for Story-Based Strategy’s website lists the following groups as its partner organizations: Climate Justice Alliance, New Economy Coalition, National Black Worker Center Project, Right to the City, Bay Rising, ETC Group, Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, Virginia Environmental Justice Coalition, and WhyHunger. ²¹

Financials

In 2023, the Center for Story-Based Strategy reported receiving $1.6 million in total revenue, including $293,775 in consulting and training fees paid for its training services. ²² It also reported $1.5 million in total expenses, $1.1 million of which it reports was for expenses related to providing training services. ^{23 24}

In 2023, the Center for Story-Based Strategy made one grant of $25,000 to the Climate Justice Alliance. ²⁵

In 2022, Center for Story-Based Strategy reported receiving $1.9 million in total revenue, including $375,542 in program service revenue. ²⁶ It also reported having $1.3 million in total expenses, including $1 million spent on employee salaries and compensation. ²⁷

Leadership

Angus Maguire is the board president of the Center for Story-Based Strategy. Maguire’s profile on the Center for Story-Based Strategy states that he believes the organization can help organize “futures beyond whiteness.” He also works as a communications director for the Center for Story-Based Strategy and previously worked as a communications organizer for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). ²⁸

Tihi Hayslett is the acting executive director for the Center for Story-Based Strategy and has worked for the Center for Story-Based Strategy since 2015. Previously, Hayslett worked as an online campaigner for the Working Families Party, having run campaigns against Netflix and UPS, and having worked on a campaign to have David Koch removed from the board of directors of the Smithsonian Institution and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). ²⁹

Nayantara Sen worked as the executive director of the Center for Story-Based Strategy from February 2024 to March 2025. Sen works as a program director for the FrameWorks Institute and as a senior advisor for Caring Across Generations. ³⁰ She previously worked as the senior director of field and funder learning at Pop Culture Collaborative, director of narrative and cultural strategies at Race Forward, and programs director at Food Culture Collective. ³¹