The North Texas Community Foundation (NTCF) is a Fort Worth-based philanthropic organization committed to driving meaningful change through charitable investment in North Texas. With a strong reputation, deep community knowledge, and tailored services, NTCF helps high-net-worth individuals structure their philanthropic giving for immediate impact and long-term legacy.
Challenge
As a central figure in the community with a wide range of audiences and causes, NTCF needed a way to articulate their offerings to specific audience sets with very different wants while positioning their own brand for growth. In addition, they needed to improve their user experience online to better meet the demands of visitors.
Tailoring the message
NTCF is beholden to not one but three separate audiences – fundholders who support charitable giving, professional financial advisors whom NTCF partners with to manage donor funds, and nonprofit leaders who leverage grants and gifts to proactively respond to the needs within the community. While the driving purpose and service offering are the same across all partners and clients, it’s crucial to shape messaging around the intended audience.
We started the process by first establishing a brand archetype – NTCF is a Caregiver – and letting that lead to a clear and compelling brand position and purpose. This step helped cement NTCF’s mission to drive meaningful change, unify the internal team and motivate all partners to advance toward a shared future. Next, we tailored key messages to resonate with the distinct needs and priorities of each audience. From cross-functional partners to clients and community stakeholders, brand messaging is tailored to the unique perspectives of each audience.
Design with a growth mindset
To further illustrate the Caregiver archetype, we evolved the brand identity to better mirror the trust, support and service NTCF is known to provide. From logo to photographic styling, we created a comprehensive design system that perfectly encapsulates the brand’s dynamic service offering. The vibrant yet strong color palette features navy, periwinkle and complementary shades of yellow, orange and blue to balance optimistic and approachable with the more intuitive and assertive sides of the NTCF brand. In addition, we expanded creative assets to offer more versatility and the ability to grow with the brand.
Creating a seamless experience
A website acts as a front door to your organization, and NTCF could benefit from a more inviting user experience. The previous website structure was dense and the navigation was choppy, leading to confusion and cognitive overload for site visitors. On the back end, employees lacked the ability to easily create, modify and publish content.
To provide current and potential fundholders with an enhanced experience, we restructured the new site to reduce page count, minimize clicks and better guide visitors to the information they were seeking. We also developed a custom content management platform, empowering the internal team with the tools needed to edit and manage their site without extensive coding knowledge.
Results
Developing an impactful brand strategy and tailoring every message to suit the intended audience allowed NTCF to better communicate their purpose and address a multifaceted branding challenge from a foundational level. The new brand identity also aligns each audience with the overarching vision of NTCF and positions the brand for success and growth.
A more intuitive website improved the user journey while empowering the internal team with the ability to easily develop and manage brand materials and content. When compared to the previous year, the new website saw outstanding results:
- 28% increase in visitors
- 7% reduction in bounce rate, illustrating users found the site more relevant
- 21.7% increase in page views, indicating stronger user engagement post site launch
Data measured from Feb 2021-Aug 2021 and Feb 2022-Aug 2022.
