When It Comes to Making an Impact…Brand Matters
The Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta (BGCMA) was facing a challenge. The board of directors and senior-level staff rallied behind an exciting new campaign, ‘Open the Door to Possibilities,’ to provide consistency to each fundraising effort. But, the team faced a major brand challenge—infusing this new look into all collateral moving forward, without crowding out the overall, strong legacy brand with the blue knuckles.
When it comes to branding, there’s one simple rule: Keep your message crystal clear. When a national organization has been around as long as the Boys & Girls Clubs (dating back to 1860 in Hartford, Connecticut), there’s a priceless value in that history. The community and supporters already trust who they are, so change of any kind needs to be thoughtful and complementary.
Our branding and strategy specialists at Raising Help collaborated with leaders from several departments at BGCMA—fundraising, marketing, special events, resource development and programming—to conceptualize a solution that provided a balanced, fresh approach to their overall look, with a big nod to their strong brand history.
A Promise for Our Children
Each year, Putt for Promise gathers stakeholders and donors for a fundraising golf tournament. This year, Raising Help was tasked with updating and modernizing all event signage with the ‘Open the Door to Possibilities’ theme.
The 2015 Putt for Promise charity event focused on one of the organization’s core pillars—ensuring metro Atlanta youth are adopting healthier lifestyles. BGCMA serves more than 3,500 children and teens each day. The organization is working to ensure by 2020, 90 percent of the youth BGCMA serves are graduating on time, living healthy lifestyles, and giving back to their communities.
Our design team (powered by Mopdog) crafted fun pieces aimed at educating supporters about the real, successful impact BGCMA has on metro Atlanta children. The “Did You Know…” signs displayed statistics and authentic images of children, learning about the importance of proper nutrition, increased physical activity and the growing number of sports programs
In the News
Another recently completed large project was the redesign of the Great Futures newsletter. This direct mail piece is familiar to supporters. So, our designers wanted to provide an upgrade, without ignoring past messaging.
The goal was to create a brighter look, with authentic photos of youth participating at metro Atlanta Clubs, and sprinkle in elements of the ‘Open the Door to Possibilities’ theme. This trifold brochure required Raising Help experts to design graphic elements and adjust content for one cohesive message.
Special Moments of Appreciation
Raising Help worked closely with the BGCMA resource development team to refine their messaging, so it speaks clearly about the donors’ role in the organization’s success. Our strategists collaborated with BGCMA on a private, personal-touch trustee dinner, featuring Dr. Condoleezza Rice as the guest speaker.
Our firm produced the save-the-date pieces, invites and donation cards. These touch points are a great way to gain undivided attention from perspective donors or long-time supporters, especially for capital campaign fundraising or “transformational gifts.”
Another personal touch piece was BGCMA’s Mother’s Day spring appeal. We crafted a beautiful, touching card that spoke about the power of a mother’s love. This real-life testimonial left a lasting impression on the power of a donor’s gift.
The Raise Up Model
Raising Help collaborates with cause-driven teams, such as the Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta, as a partner who understands their needs and challenges. With nearly 30 years of combined experience in the nonprofit sector, Raising Help is proud to commit time and energy to both local charity groups and international nonprofits, who are so crucial to a community’s success.
In 2014, Raising Help’s parent company, Mopdog, invested more than $75,000 worth of contributions to nonprofits across the United States. Raising Help’s efforts in the nonprofit sector continues to grow, as our firm was recently awarded a contract with the national Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) organization.