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I completed my first Taproot Foundation project, an annual report for Drew Child Development Corporation. My team and I started out knowing nothing about Drew and by the end of the project, we were giving them advice on future marketing and communication strategies. As our Account Director said, aside from being a financial and marketing piece, this was “one big branding exercise.” The problem facing the organization went beyond the lack of a clear, consistent brand. They were and still are faced with a $1.8 million deficit in June as the California government cuts their budget across the board. This includes funding that would have gone to pay for Drew’s Child Welfare, Early Childhood Development, and other programs. So now they’re looking to make-up for coming loss through grants, corporate sponsorship, and individual donations. However, Drew is a community-based nonprofit with low visibility outside the city of Watts and Willowbrook, where most of their centers are located. It was recognized that they needed to reinvent themselves in order to have broader appeal, establish credibility, and build trust; they needed a new identity and we were tasked with creating this identity through design, key messages, and photography. Organizational restructuring and this annual report were just a start to what we all on the Taproot team hope is a bright, successful future for Drew. (more…)