Strategic Planning
The Stupski Foundation
The Stupski Foundation was planning a large new initiative to promote student ownership of learning – engaging at-risk youth in reforming their own class-rooms and learning environments. But they needed a way to communicate about this work, and an umbrella concept to tie together their network of partners across the country. VJR Consulting worked with the Foundation to plan a re-branding of their work, providing the strategic branding insights to help make the project a success.
Futures Without Violence
Esta Soler is a visionary leader. For the past 30 years, she has led Futures Without Violence (previously The Family Violence Prevention Fund), one of the nation’s most effective organizations working to prevent domestic and sexual violence. But as the group transitioned to a new name and a new location, she wanted a partner to help think through how to build an in-house communications department that would suit the needs of this multi-faceted organization. VJR Consulting conducted interviews with senior staff, assessed the group’s needs and capacities, and developed a road map for Esta to follow as she launched the next phase of her organization’s pioneering work.
The NO MORE Project
In December 2009, a group of some of the country’s leading funders and activists in the domestic violence and sexual assault movement came together to talk about how to take their issues higher on the national agenda: to raise the visibility of their cause, bring it out of the shadows and into the light. They came up with an idea: to create a “brand” – a visual icon – for members of the public to use to express their concern about the issue. Then they hired VJR Consulting to help make that vision a reality. We organized “think tanks” with leaders from the worlds of branding, marketing, and media; developed criteria and goals for the new symbol; brought a leading brand design firm on board; established an organizational structure for the effort; conducted consumer research, and developed a strategic plan for implementation.
Common Sense Media Research Department
The executive staff of Common Sense Media, the leading provider of “common sense” media ratings and reviews for parents, knew they wanted to expand their work into a new direction: to develop their own in-house research department on children and media. But they needed a strategic plan: How should they build their organizational capacity to support the new work? What type of research should they focus on, and – just as importantly – what kind should they avoid? How could a research department not only help fulfill their mission, but also serve as a branding and marketing tool for the organization? VJR Consulting provided the strategic vision to help Common Sense move from concept to implementation. Liz Perle, Editor-In-Chief of Common Sense Media, says “Vicky Rideout is in a class by herself when it comes to strategic thinking…She presented our organization with a brilliant and achievable road map for all future research.”