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 support 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 will shape the Foundation’s work for the next 5 years. They needed a redesign of their logo to fix some basic issues around clarity and usability. More importantly, they needed our help with their wider Design Strategy which would include 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 comprehensive brand redesign which would go on to touch every aspect of their operations and how they are perceived by the communities across Northern Ireland.

Visit The Community Foundation website.

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 without splitting the actual Organisation, since that would remove 40 years of trust.

Our proposal was to strengthen the overall brand and then create two sub-brands which will allow for visual and language distinction without removing the link to their history.