What do you stand for? What do you do? Who do you help?
One of the first signs that a nonprofit is growing is when its answers to these questions start to change. But, organizational evolution requires more than just writing down a new mission and core values. A updated purpose won’t resonate with your target audiences until it’s supported by all other important communication touchpoints.
Wanting to transform their visual brand assets and website to better match their expanded mission, The Mind Trust reached out to TBH Creative for help with a brand refresh and website overhaul.
Launch date: June 2021
Q&A
TBH Creative chatted via email about our projects with The Mind Trust’s Kateri Whitley and Michael Prihoda. Their responses—below—have been condensed.
Why did The Mind Trust need help? Why were these important projects?
Whitley: The Mind Trust was founded in 2006. Our mission has always been to ensure every student in Indianapolis–no exceptions–has access to a great education. Over the last fifteen years, we have supported the launch of 38 public schools and 14 nonprofits, invested in innovative ideas to improve the Indianapolis education system, and expanded our community engagement partnership and commitments. It had been a while since our brand and website had gotten an update.
The Mind Trust needed help to update the foundations of our external communication, our brand, and our website to help people better understand and connect with our work and the Indianapolis education community.
Prihoda: The Mind Trust’s brand and website didn’t fully showcase the breadth and depth of our work. We also lacked a focus on the students and communities most impacted by our programs. Being able to tell the story of our work and impact is critical, and our previous brand and website needed a tune-up to do that effectively. This project gave us space and time to be innovative about how we could fully align our mission, vision, and core values with the public face of our brand and website.
“Being able to tell the story of our work and impact is critical, and our previous brand and website needed a tune-up to do that effectively.”
There are a lot of branding and web design companies in Indianapolis. Why did you pick TBH Creative as your partner?
Whitley: TBH Creative stood out for its research process and project management. We wanted our branding and website updates to be created with intentionality. TBH Creative shared specific ways to connect with key people from all of our audiences to help inform decisions around the entire project. We really appreciated the time they spent on this to better understand our work, history, and vision for the future from various perspectives.
It was also clear from the beginning that TBH Creative had systems in place that could keep our project moving forward with all involved on the same page. Like all nonprofit communications teams, The Mind Trust’s comms team is small but mighty—and we have a lot on our plates! It was important to us to find a partner who had exceptional project management skills that could help us keep track of all of the moving pieces.
Prihoda: A big selling point for me was how clearly their previous work showcased TBH Creative’s ability to capture the nuance of an organization’s vision and deliver compelling digital storytelling solutions. The work we do is multi-faceted and layered. It can be difficult to explain our work to someone who isn’t in the weeds of the education world. So having a partner that could collaborate toward creating a unified brand and website that clearly communicates who we are and what we do in ways the general public can connect with was crucial.
How did TBH Creative do to keep the project on track?
Whitley: Throughout the project, our team knew we could reach TBH Creative with questions, get timely updates on progress, and get clear direction on what they needed from us to keep moving. They set up regular check-ins, made it easy for our team to access project files and documents, and stuck to timelines. They set expectations early on for what The Mind Trust’s team would need to do to make the project a success.
Prihoda: TBH Creative established a clear foundation for the project’s success. Lines of communication were outlined, and the TBH Creative team never dropped the ball on follow-up and timeline responses. Throughout the process, we felt prioritized and served at a high level. They made us feel like VIPs.
What does The Mind Trust team think of the finished website? What do you think? What has the staff said?
Whitley: We love the finished website! Our team loves the audience-focused navigation, mobile-responsive design, and clean look. It is so much easier for people using our website to learn what we do and find the initiative or event that is most interesting and useful to them. I’ve also heard from people in the community that the new site has helped them learn new things about our work and what we offer for educators and community members. We are thrilled that this is happening already. We have also heard positive feedback on our new logo and brand—the new green is a favorite.
Prihoda: Feedback on our new site was instant and glowing. I have heard so many positive reactions from our team. Not only did the website meet our expectations, but it also exceeded them. Our nonprofit website redesign will support and increase the efficiency and effectiveness of our marketing and communications efforts.
“It is so much easier for people using our website to learn what we do and find the initiative or event that is most interesting and useful to them.”
Would you recommend TBH Creative to other companies looking for a professional branding and web design team?
Kateri: I would absolutely recommend them. TBH Creative is a perfect choice if your company or organization is looking for a talented team to execute your vision. They are a joy to work with and are experts in what they do.
Prihoda: TBH Creative is the best at what they do. They bring a wealth of experience and expertise to this work alongside a great deal of care for the client. We never had to compromise our vision. TBH Creative always sought collaboration with us and made us feel like we were true partners in achieving our goals.
Anything else you’d like to add?
Whitley: At the beginning of this project, I was a little nervous that our vision would be hard to execute. TBH Creative was the perfect partner for this task. From looking at countless shades of green to find the perfect new “TMT green” to working with some of our particular requests for the website, every detail was taken care of to ensure we felt that it was right and that the end product would be excellent. We cannot thank TBH Creative enough for their great work.
Prihoda: I’m incredibly grateful for the support and expertise TBH Creative offered us as we overhauled our website and brand. We couldn’t have done this without them.
