InvestSTL is an initiative of the St. Louis Community Foundation, working to transform St. Louis by creating stronger, economically and racially diverse neighborhoods.
Objective
When the St. Louis Community Foundation decided to evolve its work to create initiatives that improve St. Louis, leaders knew they had to begin with the fabric of the region: neighborhoods. InvestSTL, the first initiative the Foundation developed, strengthens neighborhood associations with funding and expertise. To introduce the InvestSTL model, we worked with the Foundation to craft a brand and kickoff event focused on the heart of St. Louis: its people.
Strategy
We viewed InvestSTL as a sub-brand of the Community Foundation, so we needed a flexible identity with elements that would complement the Foundation brand. We connected InvestSTL to the Foundation through the use of the words Live and Give from the Foundation’s long-time tagline, “Live here. Give here.” We also built on the Foundation’s main royal blue brand color with complementary colors and created messaging that clearly indicates to potential donors their responsibility in funding the initiative.
Neighbors make the case
The stories of the people who live in the neighborhoods impacted by InvestSTL truly show the impact the organization could make with more funding. Through a partnership with Humans of St. Louis, we gathered photography, stories and quotes from real people who are experiencing first-hand the negative effects of disinvestment in their community. These stories, used on direct mail pieces and larger-than-life graphics, inform community funders and key stakeholders about the depth of need in each neighborhood.
St. Louis, Meet InvestSTL
The Community Foundation was ready to introduce InvestSTL to its closest advisors and donors at an annual Open House event, but they wanted their guests to be able to deeply understand and interact with the initiative. We created large-scale posters to share stories, statistics and quotes from influencers about the need for and potential of InvestSTL. Table top storytelling ensured that all guests could get to know the people of the InvestSTL neighborhoods, and interactive activities, like asking guests to post their dreams for St. Louis on the posters during the event, created action and interest.
““We had people tell us they were sorry to miss the InvestSTL Open House launch event just from seeing the invitation! That's the kind of interest we wanted.”
Neosha S. Franklin, MA, Marketing & Communications Manager
