When design meets ethical storytelling

Design and Racial Equity was a mere idea that started with inspiration from the Community-Centric Fundraising sector. This sector has grown and leaned into supporting all sectors within the nonprofit space and is only growing in other spaces that involve marketing as a tool to build community. It involves product sales, transformation of outdated concepts, and reconnecting with cultures that have yet to be left out of the marketing industry.

When I think about design, I think of all the creative ways it has helped me better understand a particular campaign and essentially bring your brand or idea to the forefront. But how does design apply to the nonprofit sector, which seems, in some cases, missing the opportunity to hyper-focus the marketing and storytelling components that make design stand out?

It has everything to do with each other, and here are some ways that you can build more intentional spaces for your community when you incorporate design.

Ethical Storytelling

Ethical storytelling is a creative way that helps us decolonize how we’ve been told that storytelling in the nonprofit sector can change how we’ve always seen our community. In its genuine authenticity in a space filled with all the intersections of harm. Uprooting that behavior requires us to listen, relearn, and be vulnerable enough to share the most profound stories not from the organization’s perspective but from the people they are working with.

Sarah-Jane Saltmarsh, Head of Thought Leadership, & Programme and Enterprise Communications at BRAC, interviews Peter Torres Fremlin (Author of Disability Debrief and Freelance Writer and Speaker) on how the development and philanthropic sector can learn to embrace creativity and inclusion.

Digital Board Reports

Many organizations are looking to improve their funding outcomes but need to catch up when they leave out the creativity in their reporting. Your communication with your community can start when you incorporate more design work into your organization’s funding development reports. Many people you are reaching out to have so many unique ways of learning.

DigDeep is an organization advancing community-led solutions by mobilizing communities throughout America to change and rebuild a thriving ecosystem.

Check out their 2020 annual report, which provides readers, potential funders, and newcomers with the harsh realities of how the urgency of clean running water affects over 2.2 million Americans every day.

This report is a visual feast, with vibrant colors that ripple through the pages like the harmonies of a symphony. It's a treat for visual leaders, offering a clear view of the numbers and impact.