The Field Guide is the self-paced path through the StoryFoundry™ methodology. Walk through the Throughline on your own time, write one for an organization you work with, and earn the StoryFoundry Narrative Practitioner credential. Eight modules. Twelve exercises. One real artifact in your hands by the end.
Already taking the Workshop?Pair them for $499 instead of $624 →
AI can produce drafts at infinite speed. What it cannot produce is the decision about what your organization actually has to say, who it is saying it to, and what specifically makes a sentence land for them. The Throughline is the methodology for arriving at those decisions in writing. The Field Guide is the self-paced path through that methodology, laid out so you can study it, work through it, and apply it to your own organization.
Eight modules walk through every element of the methodology, in the order they need to be applied. Twelve exercises move the work out of theory and into the specific organization you work with. The capstone is a finished Throughline, five sentences in the right order, ready to drop into a deck, a website rewrite, a board update, or a grant proposal. The credential is a verified digital certification issued through Certifier, named StoryFoundry Narrative Practitioner.
The curriculum is organized as three working sprints, each building on the last. Most lessons take five to ten minutes to read. The full Field Guide is between four and six hours of focused work, and most practitioners spread it across two to four weeks.
What the Field Guide is, who it is built for, and how to work through it. The three ways to use the curriculum: a primer before bringing the methodology into an organization, a facilitator's manual, or a personal reference. Includes the AI-era argument that the Throughline answers.
The five-element architecture of the Throughline: Origin, Tension, Mission, Proof, Invitation. What each element does, why the order matters, and how the elements pressure-test each other when read aloud in sequence.
How the Throughline becomes a working system inside an organization. Roles, decision points, common failure modes, and the working principles that keep the methodology honest when it meets a real team.
The first sprint produces the Story Architecture document, the foundational narrative artifact that every other document operates from. Four exercises that move the team from blank page to a working draft.
The second sprint translates the Story Architecture into audience-specific messaging. Four exercises for naming primary audiences, identifying what each group needs to hear, and shaping language by channel.
The third sprint installs the publishing system. Four exercises for defining content formats, building the Voice and Style Guide, and writing the first piece of real content through the new system.
How a StoryFoundry engagement ends well. Activation plans, ninety-day check-ins, the decision point that follows, and the conditions under which the methodology survives after the consultant steps out of the room.
The deliverable stack, the working glossary, and the capstone exercise. You finish your own Throughline for an organization you work with and submit it to earn the StoryFoundry Narrative Practitioner credential.
Five sentences in the right order, drafted for an organization you work with. Usable as the opening of a deck, the framing of a website rewrite, the cover of a grant proposal, or the script of a board update. Drafted, refined, and tested across the exercises.
A verified digital certification issued through Certifier, named StoryFoundry Narrative Practitioner. Awarded on submission of a complete capstone Throughline. Postable on LinkedIn, attachable to a resume, citable when communications work needs a credentialed signal.
The Throughline is reusable. Once you can run it on one organization, you can run it on the next campaign, the next funding cycle, the next leadership transition. The Field Guide gives you the working knowledge to apply the methodology beyond a single capstone.
After purchase, you receive a credential and access link by email, usually within one business day. Open the Field Guide on any device. Progress saves automatically to your browser. Mark lessons complete as you go. Most practitioners finish in two to four weeks of part-time work, though the curriculum is designed to be read in a weekend if that fits your schedule better. Once you have access, it stays open. Free updates for the next twenty-four months as the methodology evolves.
The capstone is the test. To earn the credential, you submit a complete Throughline for a real organization you work with. There is no time limit. When the Throughline is ready, send it. A short written response confirms the credential and the certificate is issued through Certifier within two business days.
Communications leads inside organizations doing meaningful work. Rural health systems, advocacy groups, member associations, community foundations, mission-driven companies. People responsible for what their organization sounds like, who have inherited a pile of brand documents nobody opens and a publishing rhythm that depends on whoever has energy that week. The Field Guide gives you the system underneath, so you can stop starting from blank.
Executive directors and founders preparing for a major moment. A rebrand. A capital campaign. A legislative session. A national expansion. The Field Guide shows you what a complete communications floor looks like, what it takes to build, and how to know when your team is ready to operate it on their own.
Consultants and agency operators learning a methodology. If you facilitate communications work for clients and want a model that produces a system the client can actually run after handoff, the Field Guide is the methodology. Every exercise, every prompt, every deliverable spec. Adapt freely inside your own engagements.
The Field Guide stands on its own. It also pairs with the live Workshop for the practitioners who want both the cohort experience and the self-paced reference. The bundle saves $125 versus buying both separately.
Self-paced methodology with verified credential.
Eight modules, three sprints, twelve exercises, one capstone Throughline. The StoryFoundry Narrative Practitioner credential on completion. Lifetime access. Free updates for twenty-four months.
Buy the Field Guide · $249 founding rate →The cohort experience and the full self-paced methodology.
Two live sessions of the Workshop, plus full access to the Field Guide and the StoryFoundry Narrative Practitioner credential. The Workshop teaches you the Throughline in a room with other people; the Field Guide lets you go deeper on your own time. Do both and the method is fully yours.
Pair them · $499 instead of $624 →Same methodology, different containers. The Workshop is two live sessions, in a cohort, with feedback, over eight days. The Field Guide is self-paced, on your own time, with twelve exercises and a written capstone. The Workshop gets you there quickest. The Field Guide goes deepest. Many practitioners do both, in that order.
No. The Field Guide is built for practitioners who have to think about how their organization communicates, regardless of whether they personally do the writing. Communications leads, fundraisers, marketers, program directors, executive directors, and leadership team members all complete it with a usable Throughline. The exercises clarify thinking. The writing is a few sentences at a time.
You have lifetime access, so the timeline is yours. Some practitioners finish in a focused weekend. Some take it across a few months alongside other work. The capstone has no submission deadline. When the Throughline is ready, send it. The credential is issued at that point, not on a fixed schedule.
Yes. The StoryFoundry Narrative Practitioner credential is issued through Certifier, which provides a verified digital certificate with a public verification link. It's postable on LinkedIn with a one-click integration, attachable to a resume or portfolio, and cite-able when communications work needs a credentialed signal. The certificate also lists which capstone Throughline earned it.
For teams of three or more inside one organization, the Workshop is usually the better-shaped engagement because the Throughline is a shared artifact and a leadership team arriving at it together will use the same language for years. For organizations larger than that, the StoryFoundry Build is the right engagement. Send a note and we can talk about the right fit.
Seven-day refund window from purchase. If the Field Guide isn't a fit after working through the first module, send a note and we'll refund in full. Once a capstone Throughline has been submitted, the credential has been earned and a refund is no longer available.
$249 for the first hundred buyers, $349 after that. Same eight modules, same twelve exercises, same credential. The price goes up once those hundred seats are gone.