A new chapter and strategic reboot for a regional steward
ICF arrived at a crossroads in their 30 year journey where a change in positioning for the future became imminent. The organization was facing more competition, more complexity in sharing their story, and differing visions internally.
It was clear ICF needed clarity. Clarity in their story, identity, positioning and strategy. They needed to to align with the times and trajectory in order to survive, grow and find new audiences.
A strategic pivot was needed for returning to the fundamentals of explaining who they are, what they stand for and why they have the competitive advantage to make real change.
What was needed was deep and honest discovery process to get to the heart and soul of the organization’s identity and turn a weakness into a strength.
Services
Brand Strategy
Mission, Vision, Values, Purpose, Value Proposition, Differentiators, Pillars, Brand Compass
Brand Identity
Visual Identity System
Defining a brand and story for the evolving role of philanthropy
A new chapter
Just as important as ICF being understood by external audiences, the bigger task at hand was to bring internal alignment within the organization.
We started with group workshops and one on one interviews of ICF’s teams, employees, leadership, and board members to gather ideas, point of views to have everyones voice heard.
What was clear was the intense passion, dedication and belief in ICF’s mission. Also clear, that everyone had a difference of view on how to explain and tell that story.
We needed a new clarity of the brand, and a sharper picture of its value in order to position ICF as a thought leader in transformational philanthropy, and stake its competitive advantage in the region.
Defining A Purpose
strengthening humanity with community
Simplifying the story
Working backwards from all of the organizations touch points and user experience, we finally could craft together a new and clearer story for the organization to explain who the organization is, what it stands for and what it does in a simpler way. This story becomes the core idea and mantra when communicating with stakeholders, new donors, grantees or even internally for the whole team.
By refocusing on the fundamental purpose of what a community foundation does, we could redefine how the organization uses community as a core belief and expertise to transform conditions and improve quality of life for any region it works in.
The new idea; ICF supports community wherever community has needs. That’s to say that it helps maintain and aid the ecosystem and conditions for a community to thrive. Community is a tool to affect real impact and promote humanity and humaneness in a region, and a model for how to build a better society.
clearer Value, Cleaner look
ICF’s heart has always been in the right place, but their website was just never quite telling that story in the best way. The site was in desperate need of some content consolidation and a more contemporary interface. Lots of confusion was the general consensus of the typical experience of stakeholders and employees alike. We started with the basics, defining the key audiences and mapping out the relevant information/experience for each. From this we could build a content strategy that could better meet users needs, as well as build out new tools, content and storytelling that was needed to contextualize ICF’s impact in their communities.
