Nonprofit Brand Evolution and Donor Appeals
THE CLIENT: Children’s Aid and Family Services, a prolific nonprofit in New Jersey, has been undergoing a transformation and expansion of services. Long recognized for their award-winning foster and adoption programs, the charity also offers life-changing programs in the areas of drug and alcohol education, recovery support, housing and day programs for people with developmental disabilities, housing for teen mothers, and diapers and formula for families who are struggling at the poverty level.
CHALLENGE: Create energy, excitement and donor support for the new services and programs the agency now provides in a Case for Support. Engage and inspire donors to help change lives through giving.
STRATEGY: Working closely with the development team, we collectively agreed that the core of all the services offered centered around family or a family-like/mentor/foster base of support. Having support and connections helps those struggling to survive — to thrive.
The donors make it possible. The Case for Support design and copy speaks to the donors about what they make possible through their contributions.
STORYTELLING: The real-life stories of the many families helped by Children’s Aid and Family Services paint a vibrant case for support. We told those stories from our hearts, sharing their times of struggle and their journeys to independence.
WEBSITE: “The next generation of donors live in a digital world, so we recommended developing a completely digital version of the brochure,” says Lynn Gregorski, president and founder of Rapunzel Creative. With phones and tablets in mind, the Rapunzel Creative team designed an interactive version of the brochure, bringing all the stories in the printed piece to life with rotating story boxes, responsive photo galleries and impact counters. CAFSNJGIVES.org
RESULTS: The print and web versions of the Case for Support shine a light on the individuals helped through the programs of Children’s Aid and Family Services. These helpful tools provide donors with an instant visual representation of their impact.
Recipient of three awards, the work of Rapunzel Creative on the website and brochure was recognized with top prizes by the Academy of Interactive Visual Arts (AIVA) and Graphic Design USA (GDUSA).
“As a 120-year-old non-profit we needed to rebrand our material to match our current line of services. Lynn and her team first started with our agency doing a donor acquisition postcard campaign. She soon became our go-to for all our marketing needs. Recently we launched a bi-monthly postcard campaign to our current donors. It was so well received, by donors, staff, and volunteers, we had Rapunzel Creative redesign our Agency overview. After a year working with our agency, we had Lynn and her team write and design our case for support — The most important document a development department has to promote our work. Rapunzel Creative knocked it out of the park and we’re currently working with them to design a website based off the case for support. The whole team is organized, creative, talented and wonderful to work with.”
BRANDING: Rapunzel Creative, a strategic marketing and branding agency first began working with Children’s Aid and Family Services on a new donor acquisition campaign. Following that campaign, we continued working with the organization launching a donor communication drip campaign. The direct mail campaign captured the stories of real people using the life-changing programs at the organization. Moving slightly away from the existing brand, the postcards were designed with brighter colors, bold infographics and emotional storytelling and was well received, by donors, staff, and volunteers. The organization received feedback and communications from donors excited about the stories they were reading each month.
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