Being open: Growing a community to support your work
The Renewal group of organizations has been a force for social innovation in BC and beyond for over 15 years. During that time, Renewal Partners and its sister organization, the Endswell Foundation, have created a powerful and generative ecosystem of organizations deeply committed to social change in BC that is admired across the continent.
However, unless you personally knew their co-founder Joel Solomon, or had access to the “sent” file in his email, you'd likely never know it. They never lacked for news to share, between the businesses, environmental, and social justice organizations they supported, events and conferences they hosted, and many other less visible ways they supported this community. But for a long time — and for good reasons — Renewal hesitated to toot their own horn. Despite the incredible volume of inspiring change, much of the communication about the work and network was done at a personal level, without reaching broader audiences. 
New opportunities, a market transformation towards Renewal’s long-held values, and an ambitious new business for Renewal (Renewal2, at right, a new $40M investment fund) created the irresistible business case for increasing their profile and more proactively connecting the network.
Renewal from the ground up
Our team built the Renewal and Endswell brochure websites back in 2001. In 2007, Renewal asked us to help them better tell their story, reach more people, and embrace the new digital world in a big way. The first step in telling their story was to clarify what it actually was. They needed to answer the question many of our most innovative and creative clients have: what do you actually do?
Our strategy process was demanding, and challenged Renewal’s leadership to get clear about their shared purpose, strengths and offering as an organization. To take the inquiry out of the personal, we asked Renewal’s extended network to tell us what was most important about their work, and this drove our findings. Slowly, quietly, the big ideas emerged.
The most significant outcome was the distillation of the complexity of Renewal down to three words: Investments, Grants and Collaborations. This new offering served as the grand unifying principle that clarified the brand and became the bedrock foundation that everything else was built upon.
When we set out to refresh our website , we didn’t expect to end up with a new unified brand, key messages AND a vibrant interactive communication tool. Jason and team lead us though a strategic process that helped us achieve our goals and so much more.
— Pam Chaloult, Chief Operating Officer, Renewal
A Hub for a Movement
We launched the new site in spring 2008, and it’s been amazing to watch it change them and their world. What makes this story such a success is not so much the site, though we're certainly proud of that. The story of transformation was how Renewal went so quickly from resisting to fully embracing the web.
Since launch, they've consistently posted 2 or 3 blog posts a week, sharing the inspiring stories not only of their own work, but of their partners, investees, grantees, and friends. They jumped head-first into Facebook and Twitter. Their website is a "story machine", building their brand, making connections and referrals, and promoting their many incredible projects, partners, and friends.
This commitment to being open, authentic, and transparent has allowed them to become a hub for and bring more attention to an exciting movement of green social ventures that are actively creating a better world for future generations.