Seattle WA
PDA
Nonprofits, Social Enterprise
Public Defenders Association, a lawyer-led nonprofit, was pivoting hard: from legal advocacy to community-based public safety services for those most vulnerable. Our inclusive rebranding process brought together their diverse and quickly growing team, which was renamed Dignity. Purpose. Action. and launched a new website just in time for a presentation at the White House.
Effective, Compassionate Care Services
Rooted in Personal Experience
PDA employs former recipients of their emergency public health and safety services who now bring their lived experiences to program development and delivery. Their expertise stayed at the heart of PDA’s identity evolution through a series of interviews and workshops we facilitated. At their suggestion, we did a portrait series to honor these employees and follow their direction for a truly authentic representation.
When Rapid Growth Leads to
Organizational Transformation
PDA grew from 20 to 80 employees while providing crisis services during the Covid pandemic. Urgency and overextension led, as it so often does, to crisis. So we helped PDA reorganize to deliver services while also incubating and supporting nonprofits across the country. This allowed each group to let go of work that wasn’t theirs and focus on what they do best.
We were on a call with a funder who spent a lot of time on the website! It’s working! Everyone, including people who weren’t always sold on the name or logo, has expressed how beautiful our new brand is.
PS – my kid now likes the logo!
— Lisa Daugaard, Executive Director of PDA
Designing Collaborative Processes That
Unify Stakeholders
Harmonizing isn’t easy, but if you want your people to stick around, it’s essential for them to see themselves in their organization’s presentation. Team workshops helped PDA unify by surfacing differences and working through them together. Collaborative processes structured around rebranding and making marketing materials led to a new organizational identity, a killer video, branded social media profiles, and apparel that team members are proud to rock.
