Refreshing a Brand to Empower a Community

The Challenge

Children of Uganda (COU) is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit with a longstanding and successful history of educating and empowering women, children and communities in Uganda. Their mission is to create sustainability for entire families and communities beyond what just individual child sponsorship offers; they empower communities to unlock the chains of poverty.

Ugandan children and women have the odds stacked against them, and still need support from sponsors, but in a different sort of way.

While COU registered as a non-profit in 1995, they had been creating partnerships between Ugandans and sponsors around the globe long before then. And while they’ve been doing important work, they weren’t sure how to talk about the work that they do, or how to encourage more sponsors to join them in their mission of assisting with hand ups, rather than hand outs.

A big part of the disconnect they felt between the life-changing work that they do and the way they represent themselves was present on their website, but even more so in their messaging.

Here’s what their website looked like when we first partnered up:

Digital Marketing Strategy

SEO Strategy

Content Strategy & Development

Copywriting

Website Design & Development

Social Media Marketing

Email Marketing

The Goal

Children of Uganda say this so well: “The opposite of poverty is not wealth, it’s justice.”

Their board and leadership wanted their brand messaging refreshed so that prospective donors could see their programs as a partnership with Ugandan communities, rather than just writing checks to benefit a single child.

Additionally, the Africa-focused non-profit industry is riddled with misconceptions about the individuals they support and the continent as a whole. COU wanted to overcome this misconception by infusing their brand with storytelling, authenticity, and—most importantly—empowerment.

Wayward Kind’s Approach

With a mission to empower families, the community they live in, and their country, we completely redefined Children of Uganda’s messaging so that they can better connect with their audience and partners.

The way that people support non-profit organizations has evolved over the last several years, so this messaging and their approach needed to evolve, too.

We repositioned the COU brand to lead with optimism and a focus on empowering Ugandan women and their families to build a better future. The new COU messaging was designed around the chain of impact they empower, from the impact each donor makes, to the impact the women and children they empower then pass on. We also pulled out the warmth from their existing site identity to ensure that their most important digital asset reflects how their organization tackles important issues with compassion.

The Results

With revived brand messaging, the Children of Uganda’s most significant digital asset feels revitalized and re-energized, which has in turn revitalized and re-energized the organization.

Take a look:

Not only did their brand refresh get a big thumbs up from their non-profit board, the COU team has been receiving comments from site visitors that now understand and connect with their vision. And their team feels that their new site and message capture the essence of their vision and mission in every line of copy and code which encourages them to continue promoting empowerment.

“It was such a breath of fresh air to work with people who not only want to produce a ‘product’, but who want to impact someone’s lives.

I don’t see Wayward Kind working toward an end, but working toward making an impact. And that is so refreshing”

—Pamela Brannon, Executive Director

Children of Uganda