Stories educate, entertain, inspire, spread hope, share wisdom, help us learn about the world in which we live, and even raise revenues when used as marketing tools for consumer brands. As such, stories are assets that can generate substantive income.

Often, due to complex inequalities of wealth and power, storytellers, photographers, filmmakers, nonprofits, corporations, publishers and others benefit financially by sharing stories without fairly compensating, or providing editorial input, to the individuals who have lived the stories they portray. Ironically, this may be especially true in telling stories related to issues of social justice, social change and social innovation, and in situations where content providers live in relative poverty or in marginalized communities. While in many cases, stories and imagery may be used in ways that benefit content providers, too frequently these stories are told in ways that evoke pity, exploit or denigrate their subjects, manipulate audiences, perpetuate negative stereotypes and convey an implicit sense of inequality. Alternatively, compensation is offered in non-cash forms of assistance without a meaningful opportunity for content providers to engage in fair price negotiations.

Fair Content is a movement to ensure that storytellers and artists receive fair compensation and editorial input when their content is shared in ways that generate revenues. We believe people who share stories from their own lives have the right to determine how, to whom and for what purposes their stories may be shared, and that payment for such content is not a form of charity, but compensation for a valuable asset.

Fair Content is a collaborative effort to create a world in which stories are recognized for the value they hold, and in which storytellers receive fair, direct, non-charitable income for the stories they live, create and share. We seek to build licensing arrangements, compensation tools, and partnerships in support of these objectives. We further aim to create, publicize and/or educate storytellers and content providers about venues and channels they may use to share their own content so that they retain full editorial control and may generate personal income through their independent storytelling efforts. By removing barriers between audiences and content providers, we hope to encourage audience members to make conscious choices to compensate storytellers directly for the content they consume.

Fair Content is a collaboration between Epic Change, a 501c3 nonprofit that helps hopeful people in need share their stories to acquire resources that will improve their lives, and Hopeful World, a forthcoming fair content venture by artist Jen Lemen. The term “fair content” was coined in discussion with global intellectual property rights advocate Samuel Suraphel of Beta Bahil. The fair content initiative is in the early stages of development and a proof-of-concept will be created throughout 2009 and 2010 as photographer and storycatcher Jen Lemen, funded by a $50,000 award for her Picture Hope project from Microsoft & Lenovo, travels the world in search of stories that will change you and me forever.

The first fair content chat, to be held live from Rwanda, will be held in partnership with The Motherhood on Monday, August 3, 2009, from 12-1pm EST. For more details, click here.

If you would like to pay a fair content storyteller directly for the stories they have shared, select your level of support from the drop-down box below, then click the "Buy Now" button.

80% will be paid directly to local storytellers/providers of fair content, and the remaining 20% will underwrite costs associated with fair content production, including money transfer and processing fees, and expansion of efforts by Epic Change and Hopeful World to find, produce and share stories that matter.

As this is an early-stage proof-of-concept, we realize we have much to learn and many opportunities to improve our fair content efforts. If you have ideas, suggestions, questions or comments about fair content, please leave a comment here or email stacey[at]epicchange.org.

The image above of Mama Lucy Kamptoni and student Beatrice at her school in Arusha, Tanzania was taken by photographer Tim Llewellyn and used with their permission here. Epic Change has partnered with Mama Lucy for over 2 years to share her stories in ways that generate income to expand her school. For more information about that project, click here, and to read content written by Mama Lucy, click here.