Digital Strategy Archive
Constructive Thinking
Article
The Power of Integrating Brand Strategy Into Your Nonprofit’s Website
A website is one of, if not the most important strategic assets a nonprofit has in representing itself to the world. Given its value, it's also important to make sure that the strategy and execution of a website are deeply informed by and closely aligned…
Article
How Internal Branding Strengthens Nonprofit Strategy & Culture
I like to define branding as "the visual, verbal, and experiential expression of who you are, what you do, and why it matters." When you think of the word branding, one of the first things that may come to mind is how messaging and design…
Curated Resources
7 Resources to Embody Your Brand Values With Digital Accessibility
At first glance, website accessibility issues like contrast ratios, keyboard functionality, hover states, and other areas of web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG) compliance may feel overly technical and in the weeds. But digital accessibility goes far beyond how a website looks and functions—it’s also a tangible…
Article
Engage From the Inside! Using Internal Branding to Strengthen Your Nonprofits
Imagine you work at a nonprofit or a foundation that. It might be a global philanthropy, a national think tank or research institute, or a community-based organization. It has multiple program team or departments focused on different issues or geographic areas of operation. There may…
Article
Why is a Clear Brand Strategy So Important to Nonprofit Website Design?
Imagine you hear about a nonprofit that sounds like it’s doing amazing work on an issue that you care deeply about. What’s one of the first things you do to learn more? Head right to their website, of course. And within a few seconds of…
Curated Resources
7 Ways to Be Antiracist through Design and Communications
The last several months have been a wake-up call for those of us who want to see justice for Black, Indigenous, and people of color. It’s no longer enough to voice support for these communities, we need to take action to overhaul the racist systems…
Curated Resources
7 Innovative Fundraising Strategies for Uncertain Times
As social distancing continues and society is slowly finding its footing in the pandemic, many people are moving from crisis response mode to proactively planning for the future. What does this new normal mean for nonprofits, and specifically, for fundraising? It may sound cliché, but…
Article
The Value of Partners in Times of Crisis
The coronavirus pandemic sure feels like a watershed moment that’s permeating just about every facet of society. Things have been escalating rapidly and we’re living it together, simultaneously around the globe. As I write this, over 330,000 people have been diagnosed positive and nearly 15,000…
Article
How Design Systems Benefit Nonprofit Communications Teams
The web continues to grow in complexity. Every day, people are juggling more digital information from video, text, images, and other media. With all that on people’s screens, it can be hard for nonprofit communicators to get their message to consistently stand out. And when…
Article
Strategic Discovery: Why Branding & Design Agencies Should Ask Why
We have a lot of clients who come to us with clearly defined priorities for their branding and design projects. Often they’ve identified their problems and the solutions—they’re looking for a partner to simply execute their vision. We think as an agency, we sell our…
Article
Some of our Favorite Moments from ComNet18
Let’s go back in time to Monday October, 8th—the Monday before ComNet18. Just as Lexie and Senongo were putting their finishing touches on our pre-conference workshop, the plans for our trip seemed as up in the air as ever. Workers at the Westin San Francisco—the…
Webinar
Designing for Online Engagement: How to Build a Better Site with Brand Strategy
Does your organization’s website paint an accurate picture of who you are, what you do, and the values you stand for? Available to nearly anyone at anytime, websites play a pivotal role in how effectively nonprofits are engaging audiences and turning that engagement into action.…
Article
Nonprofit Brand Strategy: Breaking Through the B.S.
When I tell people I work on nonprofit brand strategy, I get a lot of blank stares and raised eyebrows. I get it: brand strategy is a bit of a buzzword these days and it’s not exactly easy to define or understand. Adding to the confusion, there’s…
Webinar
Engage, Persuade, Motivate! Maximizing Impact With Digital Content
Today’s digital landscape is crippling our ability to focus, with people’s average attention span now shorter than a goldfish’s. We also spend over 10 hours a day consuming content from digital screens. Add it up, and our understanding of the world and our connections to it are significantly…
Webinar
Nonprofit Branding in the Digital Age
You work at a foundation or a nonprofit. At many orgs, this belief persists: we don’t have a brand, we have a mission! Yeah, ok. That’s true. Now, let’s be real, your organization has a brand. And that’s a good thing. Here’s why—unlike most for-profit companies,…
Article
How Nonprofit Brand Strategy Increases Organizational Effectiveness and Social Impact
It takes great focus and clarity for brands to rise above the din of the crowd and be heard in today’s information-saturated world. And for nonprofit brands, the challenge is even greater. Because when the message is about a better future, possibly somewhere far away,…
Article
5 Things to Do Before Issuing an RFP: Advice From a Former Nonprofit Leader
In my former life (B.C., or “Before Constructive”), I ran a nonprofit in New Zealand that raised awareness and funds for cancer research. Like a lot of nonprofit leaders, I wore many hats and had a wide scope of responsibilities, including the organization’s communication strategy and a…
Article
Design Vendors Are Destroying Nonprofits!
ven·dor /ˈvendər,ˈvenˌdôr’/ Noun a person or company offering something for sale, especially a trader in the street. a person or company whose principal product lines are office supplies and equipment. Synonyms: retailer, seller, dealer, trader, purveyor, storekeeper, shopkeeper, merchant, salesperson, supplier, peddler, hawker; scalper, huckster,…
Article
How to Build a Better Nonprofit Website with Brand Strategy
In a previous article, I noted that the best place to start when creating a nonprofit website is with a clear brand strategy. It's what provides everyone with the shared understanding they need to unite the big ideas and strategic plan of a social impact organization's into…
Article
6 Ways to Use Behavioral Science to Strengthen Your Brand
In my last article, I discussed behavioral science and its application to marketing strategies. Here at the studio, we’ve increasingly been applying teachings in behavioral science to inform our decision-making on everything from visual design to messaging and technology. Below, I’ve pulled together 6 practical ways…
Article
Effective Nonprofit Brand Management: Tools & Techniques that Get Results
A strong brand and strategic nonprofit communications are essential to the health of any social impact organization. And the people in charge of nonprofit brand management and communications are usually loaded with responsibilities—especially because so many nonprofit organizations have smaller communications teams (shout-out to all…
Article
7 Ways to Strengthen Your Communications in 2016 (And Why They’ll Work!)
For anyone in the position of examining their organization’s communications and business strategies, a new year means shoring up plans and budgets in support of ambitious organizational goals. Every new year presents us with the opportunity to build on successes from the year prior, and…
Article
How Nonprofit Branding Increases Social Impact
Seeking new ways to increase their impact, leading nonprofits increasingly are taking a broader view of the strategic role their brand can play in driving long-term social change. In this new view, a nonprofit’s brand is much more than a tool for communications or fundraising.…
Article
The 6 Keys to Effective Nonprofit Branding
It used to be that nonprofits shied away from prioritizing their brands. However, over the last 10 years or so, nonprofits are becoming increasingly aware of the link between a brand’s strategic value and organizational impact. One reason for this shift, I suspect, is that competition…
Article
How Nonprofits & Design Firms Collaborate to Change the World
Nonprofits bring passion, dedication, and expertise to the often complex problems they are trying to solve. Design firms bring a similar passion, dedication, and expertise to the work of designing experiences. While the specifics of what we do and the way we do it may…
Article
5 Key Benefits of Designing a Consistent Nonprofit Brand
Cockroaches. They make us nervous, we don’t know what to expect from them, we stand semi-frozen waiting to see what direction they’ll dart off in next. But what do cockroaches have to do with design and branding? To me, inconsistent brands are like cockroaches. Because…
Article
The Benefits of Integrating Branding & Web Design
I recently completed brand strategy for The Pratt Center for Community Development, helping them articulate their mission, values, theory of change, differentiators; and finding ways to communicate their work and impact. A website redesignwas a core part of the engagement, and once brand strategy was complete, it was…
Article
How Brand Strategy Leads to More Effective Website Design
If you’re a business or nonprofit engaging in a website redesign, you’ve probably prioritized a list of specific things you’d like addressed–from a dated design that’s gotten embarrassing to making it easier for people to find things, or a content management system that actually works…
Article
Show Your Nonprofit’s Brand a Little Love!
The value of a brand is directly proportionate to the success of the organization behind it. So, given its importance, why do so many nonprofits find it hard to focus on developing a strong brand? The stronger the brand, the greater the appeal, the greater…
Article
5 Ways Brand Design Systems Create Business Value
For nonprofits or businesses considering a rebranding, a big question for those not familiar with this process is how to quantify the value vs the investment. One way to ensure branding efforts build sustainable business value it is to approach branding as a systems-based approach…
Article
Windows 8: Brand Identity Crisis Edition
Since images of the new and improved Windows 8 logo were leaked in a post last week by the folks at BrandNew, the web has been abuzz with reactions to the new look. Microsoft and Pentagram have issued official statements on the design, and while public opinion has varied, the…
Article
Stepping Back From Komen’s Brand Disaster
Now that the dust has settled on the Susan G. Komen Foundation’s disastrous and embarrassing handling of their partnership with Planned Parenthood, it’s a good time to take a step back and understand how an organization that does so much right could have gotten this…
Article
The Fundamentals of Developing a Strong Brand
Like many branding and design firms, we’re often contacted to help clients solve an acute tactical problem they’ve rightly identified in their business communications. A website or application may not “look good” or may have serious usability issues. The company’s logo may be projecting the…
