Housing Matters Rebrand and Website Overhaul

Housing Matters (then called Homeless Services Center) needed a new name that captured the current spirit of the organization and where it was headed. No longer focused primarily on temporary solutions and day services, the nonprofit needed a name that clearly communicated its main focus: ending homelessness by helping its program participants into permanent, stable housing.

The nonprofit had been around for 30+ years, so there was a lot to consider. Additionally, it was important that the name was empowering to its clients, inspiring to donors, and forward-thinking.

In collaboration with Waltz Creative in San Juan Bautista, California, we spent 18 months working closely with key stakeholders at Housing Matters to rename the organization, create a new tagline, design an entirely new brand identity, and craft a new brand voice.

Goals

Renaming and rebranding the organization had some very specific goals, such as...

Capture the forward-thinking nature of the nonprofit
Ensure the name was an easily understandable rallying cry and aligned with the mission and vision
Craft a brand voice that eliminated barriers in fostering community engagement and donor support

Process

The process to arrive at the new name, visual identity, and brand voice took 18 months of highly collaborative work. I led the charge on the following:

Discovery involved multiple workshops and meetings with key stakeholders, including the board of directors, the leadership team, community members, and partners at other organizations.
Naming included a tremendous amount of competitive research, discovery findings synthesis, and ideation around potential names and key themes.
Logo and brand development required tight collaboration and feedback with the creative agency who designed the logo and visual identity, Waltz Creative.
Brand voice creation took significant understanding of nonprofit communications best practices, the norms in talking about homelessness, and understanding the local landscape of nonprofits.
Website redesign was the first step in implementing the rebrand, requiring a complete overhaul of the website: its structure, user experience, content, voice, look and feel, and even its purpose. See the new brand and brand voice in action on the new website: Housing Matters

Results

The new Housing Matters brand laid the foundation for the organization to nearly double in size in the three years following the rebrand. The nonprofit is now working on building permanent supportive housing—the largest development of its kind in the county—and is serving more clients than ever.

Is your brand accurately aligned with your goals and your audience? If you think there’s some room for improvement, drop me a line.