Rethink Outside
The story of us.
700+ stakeholders,
35 partners,
1 compelling narrative.
To elevate the critical role that time spent in nature can play in people’s lives, Blue Sky Funders Forum engaged Seven November to lead a collaborative, multiyear process to develop a shared narrative for the field—an engaging story to reshape how people think about and prioritize the outdoors and its benefits.
Findings from engaging nearly 700 funders, practitioners, researchers, and policymakers in stakeholder surveys and interviews confirmed that the current narrative is that time spent in nature is a ‘nice to have.’
Through extensive qualitative research, message testing, and deep listening, we discovered that when the benefits of time spent outdoors are expressed as a basic human right, one that everyone deserves the opportunity to experience, it opens the door for new awareness and action.
From Nicety to Necessity
Equipped with these insights and incorporating widely shared values for strengthening communities and advancing equity, we crafted a new, shared narrative and strategic messaging platform for the Blue Sky community. This new messaging makes the vital work of connecting people with the outdoors a necessity, not a nicety.
The new narrative is coming to life through the Rethink Outside campaign, a public engagement initiative designed to increase equitable access to the outdoors and its many benefits.
Activating the Narrative
To bring the narrative to life, Seven November partnered with two dozen grantees to create stories for an online storybank, hosted multiple Strategic Storytelling for Social Change workshops that trained more than 200 practitioners on using the new narrative in storytelling, and advised a dozen grantees on activating the narrative within their communities through strategic communications.