Amnesty International USA Sustainer Program

Amnesty International is perhaps best known for being a membership based organization, but their sustainer donors also play an essential role in their fundraising efforts. Our long-term strategy involves growing recurring gifts and as part of that we proposed making it a more branded program and experience.

This work is still in progress and is expected to launch in 2023. While complete program details and launch materials are ongoing, the final brand concept has been chosen.

Creative Oversight: Matt Ipcar

Design Lead: Shannon Kelly

Content Lead: Mouna Kalla-Sacranie

Strategy Lead: Brooke Still

Discovery & Brainstorm

After participating in stakeholder interviews and landscape analysis and gathering insights through a donor survey we had a solid foundation to begin the creative process. We aligned with AIUSA on the creative brief and main objectives but wanted to ensure they were involved as much as possible during the early stages of work.

I designed and facilitated a brainstorm for the 15 people across the agency and client teams. The main objective was to collaborate with key stakeholders and ideate on how we might bring the sustainer program to life through its name, message, tone, and look & feel based on the insights and themes aligned on during the discovery phase.

Brand Expression Round 1

After combing through the names generated during the brainstorm phase we had a shortlist and began to develop brand expressions focusing on top-line messaging, taglines, and logos.

We’d heard from the AIUSA community how strong the association with the yellow and black palette and the famous Amnesty candle was so we knew that anything we created should have a clear place within the parent brand while making this group of committed donors feel special and distinct. We also wanted to make something the AIUSA canvassers and street teams felt excited about.

Brand Expression Round 2

Ultimately the client selected Amnesty Core. It captures the pivotal role sustainers play in Amnesty’s work and they way the community should think about themselves: they’re at the core of Amnesty USA, just as the values and mission of Amnesty USA is at the core of how they choose to live.

During Round 2, we polished the identity suite and explored what the visual staples of the brand would be through a handful of creative samples.

The visuals use italics and slants as a nod to the forward-thinking nature of recurring giving. The angularity is also meant to give the parent brand staples a fresh, modern twist that could appeal to a younger demographic who we hope will engage with the brand and program. You can be hardcore, normcore, cottagecore, and, now, Amnestycore!

Using the shape from the Amnesty Core logo as a frame for Amnesty supporters to exist in and break out of is just one way the spirit of the relationship between Amnesty Core members and the organization is visualized.

Brand Expression Round 3

The next phase of work consisted of creating a brand guideline document deconstructing the specifics of the visual and messaging systems and creating ready-for-launch deliverables.

From print pieces and stationery to digital membership cards and social media graphics, we pulled through the brand expression to all the essential creative AIUSA will need when they’re ready to introduce Amnesty Core to their audience.

Content Strategy

I was also able to take on some content strategy and UX during this project as well! This is the initial wireframe for the Amnesty Core landing page. I researched similar programs and analyzed what types of content were recurring across most or all of their landing pages.

I opted to focus primarily on the member benefits and impact of recurring giving with multiple places for a user to begin their gift right away. The secondary focus of the page is supporting existing members with their experience by offering contact information and an FAQ accordion in case there isn’t bandwidth to set up additional interior pages that goes into more detail about things like payment cycles or tax statements.

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