A New Approach and Brand to Increase Funding for Public Health

As an association nonprofit, NACCHO is the voice for ensuring that America has an effective public health system, helping over 3,300 local public health departments carry out their vital mission. The challenge is that public health, often referred to as The Invisible Shield, is often taken for granted until there’s a crisis. A trend of annual federal budget cuts was gradually and rapidly weakening this vital protection over time, delivering less money for public health research, resources, and infrastructure that threatened the effectiveness of America’s public health system. There was another thing that, when taken for granted, could also spell disaster for public health: the belief that the government would always provide the funding that the system needs. NACCHO’s solution was a strategy to reduce reliance on government funding and diversify revenue sources by changing the culture in a sector that rarely prioritized private funds. Needing to rapidly make this idea a reality in time for their annual conference in five months, we quickly got to work creating a brand strategy to launch the organization that would be the face of this new vision.

Designing the branding for NACCHO’s new philanthropic foundation was our opportunity to visually encapsulate their novel strategy, differentiate the brand, and establish FPH as an innovative and dynamic force for improving public health in local communities across America. Fortunately, a sea of undifferentiated, institutional brands in the public health sector meant that our team had no shortage of opportunities to design branding for The Foundation for the Public’s Health so that it would stand up, stand out, and stand for something. Constructive’s team explored a wide range of design concepts that expressed different aspects and attributes of FPH. The direction that resonated best with NACCHO and spoke to their collaborative, community-centered development model presents a vibrant and dynamic organization in motion—one that unites public, private, and philanthropic partners in a shared mission to ensure a strong public health sector.

In fundraising and development, a website to point people to that quickly builds trust and delivers a focused message is an invaluable asset. The challenge for FPH was that it was still an unknown organization that needed to mobilize funders to take up a huge systemic challenge in public health. Even with the NACCHO’s history and brand equity providing a ballast for The Foundation for the Public’s Health, FPH was a new organization—one with big plans, but a long way to go in proving the effectiveness of its model and demonstrating tangible outcomes. We stayed focused on the website’s biggest priority and the most important purpose: introducing funders to the organization, persuasively telling its story, and creating a bridge to further conversation and engagement. FPH’s website makes the case for the mission with a focused message that speaks to strategic partners and donors alike; and then delivers a detailed look at the Foundation’s organizational strategy, visualizes its theory of change, highlights areas of expertise, and drives engagement.