What StoryCorps does

StoryCorps is an independently funded 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2003 by Dave Isay and headquartered in Brooklyn, New York, whose mission is to help Americans record, preserve, and share the stories of their lives. The organization has facilitated recordings for nearly 800,000 participants since founding, making its archive the largest single collection of human voices ever gathered, with the full collection preserved at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.

The product surface combines physical and digital recording infrastructure. The Mobile Tour — originally a 2005 Airstream trailer, now a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van — travels to more than 200 communities. A permanent StoryBooth operates in Atlanta. The StoryCorps App enables in-room mobile recording, and StoryCorps Connect is a web browser-based virtual recording booth that supports remote conversations. All recordings flow into a digital archive (archive.storycorps.org) integrated with the Library of Congress. Distribution flows through NPR Morning Edition broadcasts, the weekly StoryCorps Podcast, animated shorts distributed via PBS and YouTube, and an email newsletter and social channels that together reach more than 20 million listeners annually.

Revenue is generated through five streams: individual donations (including a $1,200+ Honor Society tier), corporate partnerships and sponsorships, institutional grants from CPB, the National Endowment for the Arts, IMLS, and foundations such as Mellon, Robert Wood Johnson, and Stavros Niarchos, professional services via StoryCorps Studios (consultation, facilitation, production, and MobileBooth event activations for clients such as Delta, Google, Amgen, AARP, and Lionsgate), and planned giving. StoryCorps operates with approximately 100 employees, is governed by a Board chaired by KKR's Dane Holmes, and is led by Founder & President Dave Isay and CEO Sandra M. Clark.

Name

StoryCorps

Legal name

StoryCorps, Inc.

Website

https://storycorps.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2003

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

StoryCorps is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2003 that operates the largest archive of recorded human conversations in the U.S., preserved at the Library of Congress. It reaches more than 20 million annual listeners via NPR broadcasts and offers self-service mobile and web recording tools.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Oral History & Cultural Storytelling Services

NAICS

Broadcasting and Content Providers (516), All Other Publishers (513199)

SIC

Miscellaneous Publishing (2741), Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721)

akta.pro primary industry

Biography, Memoir & Narrative Nonfiction Publishing (MPAJAAAI)

Keywords

• Oral history preservation
• Nonprofit storytelling
• Audio recording platform
• Community storytelling
• Oral history archive

Headquarters

HQ city

Brooklyn

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Individual Donations: StoryCorps relies heavily on individual donations from the public, offering various giving options including one-time donations, monthly giving programs, Honor Society recognition for $1,200+ annual donors, and tribute gifts in honor or memory of loved ones
2. Corporate Partnerships and Sponsorship: Customized national, regional, or program-specific partnership packages for corporations looking to align their brand with StoryCorps, including visibility on recording booths, digital properties, social media integration, customized production services, and speaking engagements
3. Institutional Grants: Funding from foundations and government agencies including the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, National Endowment for the Arts, Institute of Museum and Library Services, and various private foundations such as the Mellon Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and Stavros Niarchos Foundation
4. StoryCorps Studios (Hire StoryCorps): Professional team of producers available to preserve organizational history, commemorate special events, engage clients or community through consultation, conversation facilitation, content production, and experiential events including MobileBooth on-site activations
5. Planned Giving and Estate Gifts: Legacy planning options allowing supporters to include StoryCorps in their estate planning, creating sustained nonprofit funding through bequests and planned gifts

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels9 records

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

StoryCorps is an independent nonprofit that helps Americans record, preserve, and share the stories of their lives through one-on-one interviews. Its core delivery mechanisms are the StoryCorps App and StoryCorps Connect (self-service digital recording platforms), a traveling Mobile Tour recording studio that visits communities nationwide, and a permanent StoryBooth in Atlanta. Recordings are preserved at the Library of Congress American Folklife Center and distributed through weekly NPR Morning Edition broadcasts, the StoryCorps Podcast, and animated shorts.

Product overview

StoryCorps is a nonprofit organization offering a suite of storytelling and oral history products and programs. The core offerings include the StoryCorps App and StoryCorps Connect (web-based recording platforms), the StoryCorps Archive (digital and Library of Congress preservation), and the Mobile Tour (traveling recording studio). StoryCorps Studios provides professional brand storytelling services for corporate and organizational clients. The organization also operates extensive initiative programs including One Small Step, Military Voices Initiative, Brightness in Black, StoryCorps Griot, StoryCorps Historias, StoryCorps OutLoud, The Great Thanksgiving Listen, Memory Loss Initiative, StoryCorps Legacy, Justice Project, September 11th Initiative, and Road to Resilience. Content is distributed through the StoryCorps Podcast (NPR), animated shorts, digital platforms, and best-selling books. Connect250 is a special NPR partnership for America's 250th birthday.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• StoryCorps App A free mobile application enabling individuals to record StoryCorps conversations with others in the same room or across distances, featuring facilitation prompts and automatic archiving into the StoryCorps Archive. Designed for everyday individuals, families, and educators.
• StoryCorps Connect A web browser-based virtual recording booth that lets users record meaningful one-on-one conversations with someone anywhere in the world, with guided prompts and automatic archiving. Targeted at individuals, families, and educators.
• StoryCorps Archive A digital platform (archive.storycorps.org) providing public access to StoryCorps recordings, including app conversations, Mobile Tour recordings, and special project interviews. The full collection is preserved at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.
• Mobile Tour A traveling recording studio (originally an Airstream trailer, now a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van) that visits communities nationwide in partnership with public radio stations and community organizations, enabling local residents to record conversations on-site for free.
• StoryCorps Studios (Brand Studio) An award-winning brand studio offering professional storytelling services for organizations, including consultation, conversation facilitation, content production, and experiential events featuring the iconic MobileBooth. Customers include corporations (e.g., Delta, Google, AmGen, Lionsgate, AARP), universities, and museums.
• StoryCorps Podcast A weekly NPR-affiliated podcast sharing unscripted conversations from the StoryCorps Archive that reveal wisdom and humanity from everyday Americans, distributed via Apple Podcasts and other major podcast platforms.
• StoryCorps Animations Animated short films crafted from real StoryCorps conversations that bring stories to life through illustration and audio, including themed seasons such as Father Figures and award-winning shorts, distributed via PBS and YouTube.
• StoryCorps DIY A do-it-yourself resource toolkit that helps organizations develop their own interview collection projects, including multimedia resources and guides for promoting listening, building archives, and creating public programming.

Quantifiable outcome

• 94% of listeners reported better understanding of people different from them
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers11 records

Segments9 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

17 partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.

• Library of Congress (American Folklife Center)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAll StoryCorps recordings are preserved at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, making it the largest single collection of human voices ever gathered. This partnership ensures permanent archival preservation and institutional legitimacy for the collection.
• NPR (Morning Edition)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWeekly story broadcasts on NPR's Morning Edition reach millions of national radio listeners, providing primary distribution channel for StoryCorps content and enabling broad public awareness.
• Mercedes-BenzmajorOthersMercedes-Benz provides a state-of-the-art Sprinter van converted into a mobile recording studio for the Mobile Tour, enabling StoryCorps to bring recording capabilities to communities nationwide.
• Delta Air LinesmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCorporate partnership creating podcast series 'To & From' celebrating company culture and employee stories, shared via Delta's external communications channels and at the Delta Flight Museum.
• National September 11 Memorial & MuseummajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for the September 11th Initiative to record stories in honor of lives lost during the attacks and 1993 bombing.
• KIPP Northern California Public Charter SchoolsmajorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerEducational partnership facilitating conversations between students, parents, and teachers for content shared via social media, impact reports, and fundraising events.
• American Association of Critical Care NursesmajorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerBrought StoryCorps MobileBooth to annual conference to engage members and reach prospective members with storytelling experiences.
• McCombs School of Business (UT Austin)majorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerPartnership for centennial commemoration recording conversations with students, alumni, faculty, and staff about courage, community, and change-making.
• U.S. Olympic & Paralympic MuseummajorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerDocumented personal journeys of Olympic and Paralympic alumni for museum's digital archive collection.
• Trabian ShortersmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational leader in storytelling and narrative change partnering with StoryCorps for Brightness in Black initiative to broaden recognition of strength and humanity.
• Nashville Public LibrarycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLocal partner institution providing community access to StoryCorps recordings and supporting local archiving efforts.
• Auburn Avenue Research Library (Atlanta)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLocal partner institution supporting community access to recordings and preserving local voices.
• Milwaukee Public LibrarycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLocal partner institution for community archiving and access to StoryCorps recordings.
• Charles H. Wright Museum of African-American History (Detroit)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner museum preserving and providing access to African American voices and experiences.
• University of Alaska FairbankscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic partner supporting preservation of Alaskan voices and experiences in the StoryCorps archive.
• National Steinbeck Center (Salinas)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner institution preserving literary and community voices connected to Steinbeck's legacy.
• Carnegie Library (Pittsburgh)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPublic library partner supporting community access to oral history recordings.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• The Moth: The Moth is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the art and craft of storytelling, producing live events, a popular podcast, and a radio show on PRX. Like StoryCorps, it builds a national audience around unscripted personal narrative, uses a community-driven model, and distributes through public radio partnerships.
• Humans of New York: Humans of New York is a photoblog and storytelling platform that collects and shares short personal stories and interviews from a wide cross-section of people. It is comparable to StoryCorps in its focus on capturing ordinary people's personal narratives at scale and monetizing that content through brand partnerships and a book/podcast media business.
• StoryCenter: StoryCenter is a nonprofit organization that teaches digital storytelling workshops and supports community-based narrative projects. It is comparable to StoryCorps in mission (preserving personal and community stories), nonprofit structure, and reliance on workshop/facilitation models to help people record and share first-person narratives.
• Oral History Association: The Oral History Association is the professional membership organization for oral historians, providing standards, training, and conferences. It is directly comparable to StoryCorps in focus area (oral history practice and preservation), though it is a professional society rather than a content publisher.

Broad incumbents

• NPR: NPR is StoryCorps' primary broadcast partner and a far larger public media organization producing news, podcasts, and cultural programming. It is comparable as the dominant distributor of StoryCorps content and a peer in the public-media storytelling ecosystem, though its scope is broader than oral history.
• TED: TED is a global media organization hosting talks, podcasts, and educational initiatives. TED is comparable to StoryCorps as a nonprofit platform for sharing ideas and personal stories, and as a cultural awarding body (TED Prize to StoryCorps founder Dave Isay), though TED's primary content is curated talks rather than recorded conversations.
• Smithsonian Institution: The Smithsonian is a national cultural and historical institution that preserves artifacts, oral histories, and educational content. It overlaps with StoryCorps in archival preservation, public history programming, and educational distribution, though at a much larger institutional scale.
• PBS: PBS is a public broadcasting distributor that carries StoryCorps animated shorts and cultural programming. It is comparable as a peer in the public-media ecosystem distributing narrative nonfiction content and as a recipient of federal and foundation funding for cultural content production.
• WNYC Studios: WNYC Studios is the podcast and broadcast production arm of New York Public Radio, producing high-profile narrative podcasts (Radiolab, This American Life-adjacent programming). It is comparable to StoryCorps as a public-media content producer distributing long-form narrative audio to national audiences.

Others

• Library of Congress: The Library of Congress, via the American Folklife Center, is the permanent archival home for all StoryCorps recordings. It is a key enabling partner rather than a competitor, but is comparable as a national institution preserving American cultural heritage and providing public access to historical audio content.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/storycorps
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@storycorps
• Facebookfacebook.com/StoryCorps
• Instagraminstagram.com/storycorps
• TikToktiktok.com/@storycorps
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/storycorps_2

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about StoryCorps