Beginning with Children Foundation
NY , NY | Advanced Website

Mission: Beginning with Children Foundation (BwCF) provides students in under-resourced communities with 3R’s— a rich curriculum upholding rigorous standards that produces powerful results. Founded by Joe and Carol Reich in 1989 it advocates for best practices in teaching, learning, and organizational design to close the racial and economic achievement gap

Project: As a website grows and becomes more complex, maintaining its effectiveness becomes ever more challenging. This project gives an existing website the additional expertise and tools the organization needs to succeed in building a larger and more sophisticated web presence.

The volunteer team working on this type of project delivers:

• Discovery interviews with a range of the nonprofit's staff
• A creative or requirements brief that details their needs and the suggested approach
• A website architecture that can be used to scale the new website
• Design templates for 3-6 key html page types
• Creative elements (e.g. drawings, type faces) that can be used to create a coherent site that reinforces the nonprofit's brand
• New or refined navigation and copy for several key pages
• Training on how to implement the new materials and update the site

Brooklyn Information and Culture
Brooklyn, NY | Annual Report

Mission: BRIC Arts | Media | Bklyn presents quality visual, performing and media arts programs reflective of Brooklyn’s diverse communities, and provides resources and platforms to support the creative process. Our offerings are free or low cost, to enhance the public’s access to and understanding of arts and media.

Project: An effective annual report can be a powerful tool for engaging the organization's major donors, foundations, or strategic partners.

The volunteer team working on this type of project delivers:

• Interviews with a range of the nonprofit's staff and key stakeholders
• A creative or requirements brief that details their needs and the suggested approach
• A tailored print-ready annual report
• A process, including roles, responsibilities and timeline, for updating and publishing the annual report in subsequent years
• Training for key staff members on the annual report process

Cool Culture
Brooklyn, NY | Advanced Website

Mission: Cool Culture’s mission is to help low-income families access and enjoy New York City's cultural life, in order to provide educational experiences for children and to strengthen parents' capacity to serve as their child’s first educator.

Project: As a website grows and becomes more complex, maintaining its effectiveness becomes ever more challenging. This project gives an existing website the additional expertise and tools the organization needs to succeed in building a larger and more sophisticated web presence.

The volunteer team working on this type of project delivers:

• Discovery interviews with a range of the nonprofit's staff
• A creative or requirements brief that details their needs and the suggested approach
• A website architecture that can be used to scale the new website
• Design templates for 3-6 key html page types
• Creative elements (e.g. drawings, type faces) that can be used to create a coherent site that reinforces the nonprofit's brand
• New or refined navigation and copy for several key pages
• Training on how to implement the new materials and update the site

Disaster Chaplaincy Services
New York, NY | Donor Database

Mission: Disaster Chaplaincy Services (DCS) is a nonprofit, nonsectarian organization that assures skilled and appropriate interdisciplinary chaplaincy care for all people affected by disasters in the tri-state area by recruiting, training and deploying chaplains to disaster sites in coordination with local government and nonprofit agencies.

Project: It is critical for an organization's fundraising to find the right donor management system and tailor it to meet their specific fundraising strategies, technical capabilities and financial resources.

The volunteer team working on this type of project delivers:

• Interviews with the nonprofit's development and technical staff members
• A requirements brief that details their needs for a donor database
• Vendor recommendation
• Implementation and configuration of the new database system
• Documentation and training on the customized aspects of the new database.

Groove With Me, Inc.
New York, NY | Brochure

Mission: This program utilizes free dance classes to engage girls and build achievement skills in the inner city. The organization seeks to decrease teen pregnancy, truancy, crime, violence, prostitution, substance abuse and gang related activity by providing girls-only positive development programming.

Project: An organization needs an effective brochure that can inspire a prospective donor to write a check, build trust with a skeptical client, or encourage a foundation to meet to discuss potential funding.

The volunteer team working on this type of project delivers:

• Discovery interviews with a range of the nonprofit's staff and key stakeholders
• A creative or requirements brief that details their needs and the suggested approach
• 2-3 design options, each of which reflects the requirements brief
• A tailored print-ready brochure
• Guidelines for printing

Harlem Commonwealth Council, Inc.
New York, NY | Annual Report

Mission: The Harlem Commonwealth Council (HCC), a not-for-profit community based agency, has been serving Harlem since 1967. HCC’s mission is: to create independence and stability in Harlem through economic development, academic empowerment, and entrepreneurial support.

Project: An effective annual report can be a powerful tool for engaging the organization's major donors, foundations, or strategic partners.

The volunteer team working on this type of project delivers:

• Interviews with a range of the nonprofit's staff and key stakeholders
• A creative or requirements brief that details their needs and the suggested approach
• A tailored print-ready annual report
• A process, including roles, responsibilities and timeline, for updating and publishing the annual report in subsequent years
• Training for key staff members on the annual report process

LIFT (Legal Information for Families Today)
New York, NY | Annual Report

Mission: LIFT’s mission is to enhance access to justice for children and families by providing legal information, community education, and compassionate guidance, while promoting system-wide reform of the courts and public agencies.

Project: An effective annual report can be a powerful tool for engaging the organization's major donors, foundations, or strategic partners.

The volunteer team working on this type of project delivers:

• Interviews with a range of the nonprofit's staff and key stakeholders
• A creative or requirements brief that details their needs and the suggested approach
• A tailored print-ready annual report
• A process, including roles, responsibilities and timeline, for updating and publishing the annual report in subsequent years
• Training for key staff members on the annual report process

The Bridge Inc.
New York, NY | Naming & Visual Identity

Mission: The Bridge assists New Yorkers with serious mental illness, the homeless, people with substance use disorders and HIV/AIDS to live independently and productively in the community--through a comprehensive array of recovery-oriented mental health, rehabilitation and housing services based on best practices.

Project: An organization's name and visual identity can help communicate with key constituencies and the community, or be a burden of confusion and obsolescence. This project revaluates an ineffective name and provides the organization with a name and visual representation that more strongly resonate with its core audiences and the community.

The volunteer team working on this type of project delivers:

• A creative or requirements brief that details key attributes of a new name and visual identity, and suggested approach
• A new name and visual identity
• Instructions for printing and use of the selected name and visual identity
• Guidance on how to legally register the new identity
• Extension of the selected name and visual identity to business papers (e.g. stationary & business cards), with guidelines for printing and use of the visual identity

The Zachary and Elizabeth M. Fisher Center for Alzheimer's Research
New York, NY | Key Messages & Brand Strategy

Mission: The Fisher Center Foundation leads the battle against Alzheimer’s disease. We are attacking the scourge of Alzheimer’s disease with a strategic three-pronged assault; we are fighting to:1)find a cure for Alzheimer’s disease,2)delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease,3)improve the quality of life for those living with the disease and their families.

Project: Successful marketing and fundraising efforts - events, mailings, phone solicitations - speak with a singular voice. This project helps an organization articulate its brand strategy and key messages, which once created, drive and unite all its communications.

The volunteer team working on this type of project delivers:

• Interviews with a range of the nonprofit client's key stakeholders
• Competitive audit to evaluate the visual identity and positioning of organizations that compete with the client
• Audit of the organization's current marketing/communications materials
• Brand strategy, which includes positioning, core attributes, brand personality, and key audiences
• Key messages, which extend the brand strategy into concise language for both general and specific audiences
• Recommendation regarding whether the organization should keep or change its name and visual identity
• Requirements brief for name and visual identity, which outlines the creative direction and goals for a new name and visual identity based on the brand strategy (as needed)
• Training for board members on brand strategy and key messages

Voice Charter School
New York, NY | Advanced Website

Mission: The mission of Voice Charter School is to create a safe and healthy learning environment that will nurture, motivate, and challenge all of our children to achieve the highest level of academic excellence and to develop into mindful, responsible, contributing participants in their education, their community, and the diverse society in which we live.

Project: As a website grows and becomes more complex, maintaining its effectiveness becomes ever more challenging. This project gives an existing website the additional expertise and tools the organization needs to succeed in building a larger and more sophisticated web presence.

The volunteer team working on this type of project delivers:

• Discovery interviews with a range of the nonprofit's staff
• A creative or requirements brief that details their needs and the suggested approach
• A website architecture that can be used to scale the new website
• Design templates for 3-6 key html page types
• Creative elements (e.g. drawings, type faces) that can be used to create a coherent site that reinforces the nonprofit's brand
• New or refined navigation and copy for several key pages
• Training on how to implement the new materials and update the site