The evolution of Evanston Community Foundation

Since its founding in 1986, Evanston Community Foundation has helped Evanston thrive by connecting individuals, organizations, and resources. ECF has invested over $15 million to support work in areas like early childhood education, youth and education, family support and counseling, community development, basic human needs, and housing.

Our relationship began in 2012. We worked closely with ECF leadership to craft key language to help clarify its mission and differentiate the Foundation from other organizations in the region. ECF subsequently invited us to lead a workshop on the role of branding and marketing in fundraising for their “root2fruit” program grantees.

In 2016, ECF’s second president, Monique Brunson Jones, asked us to help her engage more directly and creatively with donors, grantees, and the community. In response, we have sharpened their messaging and incorporated more photography and video to better represent the diversity of the community. We have managed their communications and promoted their fundraising with a series of annual reports, year-end appeals, and email campaigns, as well as a 30th anniversary book.

We are now working with ECF’s current president, Sol Anderson, to reinforce and clarify the Foundation’s focus on equity, particularly in light of the inequities surfaced by the pandemic.