A strong brand identity, a clear story, and consistent brand expressions are indispensable to building movements and connecting with donors and communities.

The Oregon Community Foundation logo overlaying a dark opacity version of their homepage hero image

How we can help

In a nonprofit, there are so many voices — leadership, the board, program staff, development staff. It can be overwhelming for an already overloaded communications team to take on a big project and bring along the entire organization at the same time.

“Design Therapy”

Change to brand and core messaging, logo, name, or positioning can be scary to people across an organization. For nonprofit organizations, branding can be seen as a cynical, corporate endeavor. Individuals often strongly self-identify with the organization’s mission, making any change to the core a threat. 

We become a trusted partner to our nonprofit clients, helping them navigate what can be complex territory. Having worked inside nonprofits in our careers, we know how powerful brand and website projects can be in propelling organizations forward, in part through the process of building buy-in and alignment. 

Our process helps people to open up and work through different ideas and concepts about the identity of an organization — we call it “design therapy.” Each client is different, so we work with you to create a safe and inclusive environment for your team and help you with internal communications throughout the project to ensure the entire organization comes along with us. 

Listening and mapping

We help nonprofits listen to voices inside (staff, leadership, board) and outside their walls (partners and constituents) and make sense of the many perspectives. We build decision-making processes unique to each organization, and we support our clients with internal communications throughout the project.

We work with many types of nonprofits, including private foundations, community foundations, NGOs, national nonprofits, grassroots organizations, trade organizations, membership organizations, and special initiatives.

Questions you might have

  • How do I create a single, effective website that speaks to all of my audiences?
  • How can I create alignment between different departments of my organization?
  • How can I convince my leadership that communications is mission work?
  • When do I need to redesign our brand or website?
  • How can I get a handle on all of our different audiences?

A graphic of an Ohia lehua plant.
Screenshot of The Healy Foundation website homepage.
Oregon Community Foundation logo
Various covers and back pages of OCF annual reports across the years
Billboard mockup of The Steve Fund new brand and messaging
Branded pin buttons for The Steve Fund

An animated illustration with the words “We’re Live!” with confetti falling down. Once the confetti is gone, the words change to “What Next?”
An animated gif rotating through multiple images of Smith & Connors design work including a t-shirt design, package design, logo, and business card — all against a rainbow colored gradient background.
A photograph of a smiling woman is surrounded by speech bubble icons.

Let's build something beautiful together.