BUILDING A BRAND
Building Hope | Creating Space for Charters
Project Details
Client Building Hope
Date Launched in March 2020
Skills Brand creation, Logo Design, Website design and development, Messaging
Finding a long-term facility is a challenge for public charter schools. Building Hope, a national nonprofit, exists to help charters overcome their facility challenges so they can focus on their mission of educating students.
While they were working to help schools and establishing a great reputation, they weren’t paying attention to their marketing. That is where we stepped in.
The Challenge
Over 20 years, Building Hope had established a strong portfolio of school construction and financing projects, and an equally enviable reputation. However, like the schools they serve, the organization’s leadership was focused on their core businesses and had not consistently invested in marketing. No one on staff was managing Building Hope’s brand and story, resulting in a hodgepodge of customer-facing marketing materials, unprofessional-looking presentations, an outdated website that didn’t convey Building Hope’s national footprint, and no shared understanding within the organization of Building Hope’s brand voice and identity. Moreover, Building Hope comprises three semi-autonomous business units – construction, finance and school services – that needed differentiation under a shared brand.
None of that was making an impact with an out-of-date logo and a lack-luster web-presence (as seen on the left).
The Solution
5e and Merry Alderman Design started our research by engaging with the leadership of each Building Hope division and region, seeking to understand their offerings and unique value while looking for the connective tissue that united the various teams. We checked the executives’ input against what we heard from members of their teams. We also spoke with Building Hope’s partners, including banks and philanthropic foundations, to develop an understanding of the organization’s reputation. And we interviewed charter school leaders who had turned to Building Hope for their facility and operational needs.
We synthesized everything we heard into a coherent brand voice that established Building Hope as authoritative, creative, collaborative and persistent in all they do for charter schools. We created a new tagline, “creating space for charters,” that spoke literally to what Building Hope does – constructing schools – as well as to their more figurative purpose of freeing school leaders from tasks not directly connected to success in the classroom. Through a refreshed logo, overhauled website and accompanying print materials, we established visual ways to differentiate Building Hope’s business units. We commissioned and selected architecturally inspiring photography, and we drafted professional biographies that highlighted the expertise of Building Hope’s executives and employees. Most significantly, we produced a series of case studies that showcased Building Hope projects throughout the country and connected the organization’s work to each school’s success and sustainability. Testimonials from school leaders and partners are sprinkled throughout the website.
Building Hope was so pleased with their 2020 brand upgrade that in 2021 they hired us to redesign the website for a federally funded technical support website that they operate for charter schools in several regions.
Note: Images on this site reflect the website that we built. We do not maintain the current Building Hope website.
