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The Community Foundation Northern Ireland

Building a brand which celebrates good causes, and the philanthropists who make them happen.

The Community Foundation has been a force for good in Northern Ireland for over 40 years. They are a non-political, trusted, secure means for donors and philanthropists to support causes which matter the most to them. The Community Foundation makes sure the money reaches the right people to help the kinds of projects which will have a long-lasting impact across the local community.

They are committed to addressing the challenges of peacebuilding, social justice and effective community development by supporting the great work already happening in grass-roots community organisations.

They connect people who care, with causes that matter.

We got involved in late 2018, just as they had begun developing their new Strategic Priorities Plan, which would shape the Foundation’s work for the next five years. Initially, they needed a logo redesign to fix some fundamental issues around clarity and usability. More importantly, they needed our help with their wider Brand Strategy, including discussions about formally splitting the organisation into two distinct entities – Grant Giving and Philanthropy Services.

Working directly with their steering group, we set about delivering a Strategic Brand Transformation which would touch every aspect of their operations, and how communities across Northern Ireland perceive them.

Visit The Community Foundation website.

The Community Foundation Northern Ireland Brand Design
The Community Foundation Northern Ireland Brand Poster
The Community Foundation Northern Ireland Stationery set - letter head, business cards and comps slip.
Spread from a spiral bound Community Foundation Northern Ireland booklet
The Community Foundation Northern Ireland Sub Brands

Keeping the organisation together by creating two new sub-brands.

Everything the Foundation does can fall under one of two elements: Grant Giving; and Encouraging Philanthropy. Our challenge was to clarify each of these elements visually through a Brand Architecture Strategy without splitting the actual Organisation since that would remove 40 years of trust.

We proposed strengthening the overall brand and then creating two sub-brands, allowing for visual and language distinction without removing the link to their history.

Four members of the NI Community Foundation sat in a meeting hall, having a discussion.
The Community Foundation Northern Ireland Strategic Priorities report cover.
The Community Foundation Northern Ireland metallic pin Badges
Woman carrying The Community Foundation Northern Ireland canvas tote bag over her shoulder.

Community Foundation
Website Design

We overhauled the CFNI website. Building a hub for sharing stories, and distributing grants.

The Community Foundation Northern Ireland’s website has a lot of different things to communicate to many different audiences. There are areas for the Foundation’s staff, structure, and strategic priorities, which are essential to display prominently, given that they are a registered Charity.

There is a section for Grant Giving, with opportunities for groups to find and apply for funding. Also crucial is the area where the Foundation’s Philanthropy team can encourage donations.

Our Brand Strategy work at the beginning of the website design project guided the structure and wording for these sections, linking the sub-brands to their strategic themes.

Visit the Community Foundation Website.

iPad and iPhone displaying The Community Foundation Northern Ireland homepage.
iPad displaying the Start a Fund page from the Community Foundation Northern Ireland website.
The Community Foundation Northern Ireland Website display on an iPad
The Community Foundation Northern Ireland Website on an iPad.

Client Comments

“The Community Foundation started to work with Bag of Bees in 2018 when we needed support with the redesign and development of our brand in line with our strategy. Bag of Bees made it easy. Working with our stakeholders, they very quickly got to grips with the issues we were facing, guiding us through a process with options which has resulted in a new, modern, easy-to-use logo, design and brand for the Foundation, which connects us to people who care and causes that matter.

More recently, we commissioned Bag of Bees to develop a new website for the Foundation and I would have no hesitation in recommending them.”

Síofra Healy | Director of Philanthropy

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