Narrative is a digital agency with deep roots, and a clear sense of where we’re headed.
In our 15th year, and with over 30 years’ experience each across design, development and digital strategy, the two of us who founded Narrative made a deliberate decision to change the direction of the business.
Not because we were bored.
Not because the work wasn’t good.
But because it felt necessary.
For years, we built and delivered digital platforms for private businesses and large brands. Complex systems. High-pressure environments. Work where performance, efficiency and competitive advantage really mattered.
Alongside that, we have always worked with charities, CICs and purpose-led organisations. From global names like UNHCR, Amnesty International to small charities like WMUK, grassroots organisations and community-driven CICs such as BookTastic and Safe Space Group. We’ve also partnered with purpose-led businesses in cleantech, and local independent news who care deeply about the impact of what they do, not just growth.
What changed wasn’t our capability.
It was our focus.
A conscious shift
The UK is in a tough place economically, and charities are feeling it first and hardest. Funding is under pressure. Demand is rising. Expectations are changing. At the same time, digital has never mattered more.
Charities are now competing for attention, trust, funding and participation in ways they simply didn’t have to a decade ago. They are being judged, compared and filtered through digital systems that were largely built with commercial organisations in mind.
And yet, many are expected to do this without the internal skills, confidence or capacity that private enterprise takes for granted.
That gap is where Narrative now sits.
We decided to apply everything we’ve learned in commercial digital environments to organisations doing public good. The same rigour. The same strategic thinking. The same expectation that digital should work hard, not just look nice.
Digital, done properly
We believe charities deserve the same level of digital thinking as any ambitious private business.
That means:
- Strategy before tactics
- Systems that reduce friction rather than add to it
- Platforms that support teams instead of draining them
- Digital tools that help organisations become more resilient, more effective and more confident in what they do
We’re not here to “do websites”
We’re here to help organisations become match-fit in a digital world that is moving fast and changing the rules.
Experience that transfers
The challenges charities face today are not unfamiliar to us.
We’ve spent decades working in environments where performance matters, where systems have to scale, where mistakes are costly, and where clarity, efficiency and focus make the difference between progress and stagnation.
Those lessons transfer.
What changes is the context, not the standard.
By focusing Narrative’s work on charities, CICs and purpose-led organisations, we’re bringing commercial-grade digital thinking into spaces where it can have a disproportionate impact.
Looking forward
Narrative exists to help organisations doing good work do it better, with digital that is thoughtful, joined-up and fit for purpose.
We’re not interested in quick wins or surface-level fixes. We care about building capability, confidence and momentum over time.
This shift isn’t a rebrand.
It’s a recommitment.
Digital done right, for organisations doing good.