- Partner: Grassroots International
- Sector: Development and Philanthropy
- Brand & Content
- Digital & Tech
Grassroots International envisions an equitable world for the earth and all its peoples, working with global movements for ecological, economic, and social justice.
For their 40th anniversary, they embarked on a rebrand to showcase their expansive work outside of just philanthropy – one that spoke of their passion for change and tackling the root causes of injustice and oppression.
The brand we developed kept to their roots but spotlights their activism in defending people, land, water, food, and the earth.
The challenge
The global philanthropy space is a crowded one. And while Grassroots International has been a part of it for four decades, they needed to communicate all the things that made them different.
They knew they needed a branding facelift to stand out in the sea of corporate funders, but they also knew they needed more than that. They needed to tell the story of their 40 year evolution from being a grantmaker to becoming an organisation committed to fighting the difficult fights and supporting radical movements others wouldn’t. And that’s a big story to tell.
The solution
For decades, Grassroots International have stood by and supported global movements through it all: fighting apartheid, military coups, disasters and indigenous theft, you name it.
Within their team there is a raw anger for justice and we discovered that this fiery passion was rooted in the most unexpected thing: love. Love for the world, for all its people, for land and water, for all things that exist. Grassroots’ brand didn’t exist for themselves, but instead in solidarity with all those around them. This was a story worth telling.
So we took their corporate look and revamped it to radiate their radical nature and broadcast the stories of their global partners.
The new brand needed to show their passion and commitment to transformative change while acknowledging their connections in the donor and funding space. While it was a much needed brand refresh, the transformation should result in strengthened relationships rather than alienating their longstanding network. We struck the balance between a radical, honest new look that still maintained its credibility and trust.
Grassroots International have long been non-corporate in their thinking but their branding didn’t communicate this well enough. We took the greens and greys from their old brand and brought a wide range of colours – all accessible colour combinations, with hues drawn from nature.
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Antoinette -
Geli -
Zeina -
Anya -
Harry -
Joel