Covenant House used the fire tradegy to highlight the need to get teens off the streets and into secure housing and a safe environment. They gave Design for Social GOOD raw video of Covenant House President Kevin Ryan speaking about the devestation. Our researchers found compelling images of the fire aftermath and acquired them to include in the above video. Meshing Kevin’s voice with video and still images, Design for Social GOOD procuded an emotional appeal to not let this happen again.

The trifold and postcard will be printed in English and Spanish. Design for Social GOOD produced the print advertisement, “Affordable, Accessible Health Care For All,” for publication in the Staten Island Advance. The image advertisement emphasizes the health center’s mission of providing quality care without regard for a patient’s ability to pay. The trifold, which provides essential information for patients, will be distributed at the medical center. By continuing the blue and orange color scheme for the advertisement and trifold, we reinforced the CHCR brand.

Because a majority of CHCR’s clients speak Spanish as their first language, we thought it was important to produce print materials in both English and Spanish.

This week we finalized a postcard for CHCR to use as an outreach tool to gain new patients and keep in touch with current patients. The postcard also serves to brand the center as a medical clinic that is available to everyone on Staten Island.

Design for Social GOOD provided the photography, design, writing and editing for all the print pieces, including an informational brochure written for the community at large, an annual report and a new website.

We continue to work with CHCR on a multitude of pieces, including a T-shirt, 5th anniversary logo and signage.

Catholic Charities hired Design for Social GOOD to document Meals on Wheels to use in marketing materials. Our purpose was twofold. We needed to capture images of Meals on Wheels clients, who usually are inside their homes. And we needed images that included the Catholic Charities’ logo. With creativity, we were able to accomplish both goals. Professional photography helps Catholic Charities highlight its programs in a compelling and personal way.

The Amazon Aid Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the public and supporting scientists and activists working to preserve the Amazon Rainforest. The foundation also produces world-class multimedia to showcase the amazing Amazon environment.

The first phase in website design is to create the  information architecture, which leads to the site map. This gives our designers a clear path to all the content on the site.

We’re now on Phase II,which is the website’s look and feel. Incorporating the nonprofit’s logo and color scheme is essential to properly branding the organization and the website. Design for Social GOOD created original backgrounds and icons to compliment the site’s consistent branding. Throughout the design process we consider essential key elements needed to create a successful nonprofit website.

There has to be a clear description of the organization’s mission. Every site should include information about the organization’s background and its leadership team. There needs to be a clear and easy entryway for volunteers and donors to get involved. The people or places that are affected have to be presented in a compelling and convincing way so that supporters and donors will feel connected to the issue and contact information must be easy to find.

The final consideration is the overall design concept. The design has to fit with the organization’s culture and purpose. Design for Social GOOD is invested in the success of each and every web build. We look forward to the Amazon Aid Foundation web build and launch. Stay tuned to see the finished site!

Gift Cards for GOOD

Be the Change Gifts by MercyCorps
At MercyCorps you can shop for gifts featuring animals, farming, entrepreneurship, sports, emergencies, health, environment, women and children. The process is simple. You chose one of 40 unique gifts, MercyCorps will email a full-color card that explains your gift and you can customize it with a personal message. Your gifts help families turn crises of poverty, conflict or disaster into opportunity. (Photo courtesy of MercyCorps)

MercyCorps MISSION:       Mercy Corps exists to alleviate suffering, poverty and oppression by helping people build secure, productive and just communities.

Why we think it’s GOOD:  Most of us have more than we could ever need. What better way to give than to give something you love to someone who actually needs it?

Products for GOOD

Toms Shoes
For every pair of shoes you purchase, TOMS will give a pair of shoes to a child in need. “Using the purchasing power of individuals to benefit the greater good is what we’re all about.” (Photo courtesy of TOMS)

TOMS MISSION:     TOMS mission transforms their customers into benefactors, which allows them to grow a truly sustainable business rather than depending on fundraising for support.

Why we think it’s GOOD:  There are only a few companies whose movement IS their mission. TOMS was founded for the sole purpose of giving back and instead of asking for donations, they created a product to sell that provides funding and a means to give their product away. We think this concept ismore than GOOD. It’s GREAT!

Holiday Cards for GOOD

Cards That Give

Whatever your passion may be, Cards That Give offers a greeting card to fit the need. Proceeds from the sale of the greeting cards directly benefits the associated cause. (Photo courtesy of Cards That Give)

Cards That Give’s MISSION: One woman took the time to build a website to help people find cards that support causes. She did the work, we get the benefit. It’s that simple.

Why we think it’s GOOD: You have a choice. You can buy your greeting cards a major retailers and help them get richer or you can buy them at Cards That Give and change the world. We vote for changing the world!

Loans for GOOD

Kiva Loans That Change Lives

Kiva says it explains it better that we ever could by saying, “What gift do you give someone who has it all? A chance to help someone who doesn’t.” Kiva promotes dignity, accountability and transparency and believes that the poor can be successful when given the opportunity.

Kiva’s MISSION:     Kiva’s mission is to connect people, through lending, for the sake of alleviating poverty.

Why we think it’s GOOD: You know the specific person your giving to, the organization that back the loan and in this hard economic climate, once the loan is paid back, you get your money back!

Green Gifts for GOOD

NRDC Green Gifts
Interested in saving the environment and want to give your friends and family a meaningful gifts? Then got to Green Gifts and help to save wildlife, protect wild places, revive oceans, education kids, fight pollution, encourage green living and less global warming.

NRDC’s MISSION:     NRDC is the nation’s most effective environmental action organization, combining courtroom power, scientific expertise and the grassroots clout of 1.3 million Members and online activists.

Why we think it’s GOOD: Your voice is your strength and there is power in numbers. If the environment is your passion, join the more than 1 million members and activists making a difference.

In the midst of the holiday season, we think it’s more important than ever to do GOOD. For the next 12 days, we’ll be giving you ideas on how to do GOOD and make a difference in the world.

We start with NOTHING BUT NETS, a simple solution to saving lives. For $10 you can buy a net to protect a family from malaria. Read some of the facts the United Nations has compiled:

Fact: Malaria is preventable, but causes nearly 500 million illnesses each year and kills more than 1 million of those who become infected.

Fact: Ninety percent of deaths caused by malaria occur in Africa where the disease is a leading killer of children. Every 30 seconds a child in Africa dies from malaria.

Fact: Malaria is the #1 killer of refugees in Africa.  Two-thirds of the 33 million refugees worldwide live in malaria endemic countries.

Do GOOD! save a life!

We’ll tell you about a new charity each day on our Facebook page. Do GOOD, give GOOD at the12 days of social GOOD.

Jamaican nonprofit Operation Angels Rise (OAR) answered the call to make a difference and isholding a series of fundraisers for the Shaggy Make A Difference Foundation which is working to fill some of these needs. OAR needed to put a face on the cause and turned to Design for Social GOOD and our team of renowned photographers to do just that.

Photographer Jeffery Salter flew to Jamaica, spending two days documenting hospital staff and patients and came back with hundreds of poignant images. Connecting a nonprofit with supporters, donors and advocates is essential to its succes,s and OAR chose one of the best to highlight its cause.

Jeffery’s work has appeared in many editorial magazines, such as Men’s Journal, Rolling Stone, Reader’s Digest and Fortune. His fine art photography has been exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Smithsonian, and the Corcoran Museum. A World Press award winner, he has also received honors from Pictures of the Year and the Communication Art Annual. Jeffery is a former Sports Illustrated staff photographer.

Design for Social GOOD has a worldwide network of photographers, writers, videographers and multimedia artists ready to put a face on your cause.

Design for Social GOOD is proud to give back by providing loans through Kiva. Kiva’s mission is to connect people through lending to help alleviate poverty.

Kiva empowers individuals to lend to entrepreneurs across the globe. By combining microfinance with the Internet, Kiva is creating a global community of people connected through lending. Kiva promotes dignity, accountability and transparency, all the GOOD things we believe every nonprofit should promote.

With each new client we work with, Design for Social GOOD will choose an entrepreneur in Africa who is working to make his or her community and world a better place.

Our first loan is to Diambari Djiguen Gni Group in Thies, Senegal.

The group of 11 women is led by Mme Nogoye Mbaye and the loan will be used to buy cassava, brooms and vegetable oil, which the women will sell in their local villages.

We dedicate our first loan to ACE New York, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering the homeless and improving communities.

Design for Social GOOD completed an entire branding package for ACE New York that included a new logo, print suite, nonprofit analysis and website build.

Why do we give back? We do it because we have a responsibility to help other people.  We strive to produce outstanding work that promotes positive social change. We live not only by our commitment to our clients but also by our commitment to our community and the environment. We believe in the triple bottom line. People, Profit and Planet. We believe that doing GOOD for people and the planet is good for business. Our goal is to help those who are doing GOOD continue to thrive and grow their bottom lines in an increasingly complex, media-driven society.

Photo courtesy of Kiva.

Edwin Gould Services for Children and Families strives to  “reach directly the needy children of the present generation and contribute to their health, physical and educational development until they can be returned to a proper home environment or can be self-supporting.”

Edwin Gould has had its current website for many years. The organization decided it was time to update the site design to make it more user friendly and add a content management system (CMS).

Design for Social GOOD worked with Edwin Gould on the new site information architecture (AI) to layout a blueprint for the next site. The second stage involved creating style frames to show the look and feel of the new site prior to back end development. The final stage is now in progress and in the coming weeks we’ll launch the new EGSCF website. The site will offer EGSCF the opportunity to manage and update their content as well as interact with donors, supporters, clients and potential employees.

Stock images rarely embody the true essence of a nonprofit and CHCR knew they wanted to use images in a variety of print web project. By commissioning Design for Social GOOD to photograph their clinic, they own the rights to use hundreds of images for a varitey of needs.

We were carefull to photograph their staff doing a wide variety of activities with patients of various age groups to give an overall feel to the clinic’s work. Whether they’re providing much needed medical care to the poor, reassuring new parents, offering educational information or interacting with staff, CHCR wanted to put a face on their organization. Now they have a cache of images to choose from when designing their new website and print materials.

Photographs: ©2010 Najlah Feanny Hicks/Design for Social GOOD