Over the years, Creative Day for Social Good (CD4SG) has provided non-profit organizations with valuable design and marketing expertise for no cost. It has made it possible for charitable non-profits to access professional resources to build their brand and have a more significant social impact. This year, 17 non-profits were selected as beneficiaries of the program. These non-profits received marketing tools and communication material, including website designs, videos, and brochures, among others.
“We have a minimal marketing budget and currently no in-house expertise to create the marketing material we require. We understand the value of this program, and it’s great to have this opportunity,” says Tenley Soares, who works with the Child Witness Centre, one of the non-profits selected as beneficiaries this year.
A unique agency, the Child Witness Centre provides support, education and advocacy for children and youth who are or may become victims or witnesses of abuse or crime.
“If we aren’t here, what happens to the children who need our support? They could fall through the cracks. If we help them now, they can get through it, and it can change their life trajectory,” says Soares.
No other agency in the Waterloo region provides this kind of service that the Child Witness Centre has provided for the past 40 years.
Because of the area of their work, not many feel comfortable talking about their experiences, which is why the agency believes it struggles with making new connections in the community. “People in the community don’t really know we exist. It’s difficult for people to talk about our work since that sometimes means re-living their experiences. It’s important for us to be able to reach out to as many people as possible so we could help those in need,” adds Soares.
According to Soares, the new marketing tools created by the students will expand their community reach.
“The students understood what we do and what we needed from them. They understood that we needed to broaden our reach for those who don’t know that our organization exists or the kinds of services we provide,” she adds. The nine-student team from Conestoga College created an agency overview video to explain to people how the organization provides support to those in need. Soares believes the video will be an incredible tool both for those utilizing the Child Witness Centre’s services and for the community support they are seeking.
This year, the Creative Day for Social good was hosted virtually and included students from George Brown College and Conestoga College. Over 100 students from both colleges got together, along with account managers and industry professionals, who volunteered their time to create marketing and communication tools for non-profits.
“We appreciate the willingness of the students and their mentors to understand what we are trying to do. As a non-profit, we don’t have a lot of money. And we appreciate that we have had the opportunity to be part of this project,” says Jill Stoddart of the Family & Children’s Services of the Waterloo Region.
Family & Children’s Services of the Waterloo Region responds to concerns about children in the Region. That doesn’t mean removing them from their families. Around 97% of the families that the organization works with receive the help they need to care safely for their children at home.
“The pandemic has impacted us and everyone in our community. We have been hearing about the struggles that communities have been going through. The tools that are created as part of Creative Day for Social Good will help us reach out to our communities and build stronger relationships,” adds Stoddart.
Since 2014, the Family & Children’s Services Foundation has supported The Resilience Project along with 10 other partner organizations. The team of students from Conestoga College created a new tagline – Growing Together, a logo and brochures for the organization while also focusing on redesigning their website and creating a social media guide that included sample social media posts. Additionally, the students created four posters with the idea that the organization could share its work with the community.
Like most other organizations participating in Creative Day for Social Good, Habitat for Humanity Heartland Ontario wanted to focus on creating brand awareness and reaching out to as many people as possible. Habitat is a non-profit housing organization that welcomes partners without discrimination to help build simple, decent, affordable homes for low-income families.
“A lot of people don’t realize that Habitat for Humanity is an option and that they could qualify. We would like to change that. We want to eliminate that barrier where people don’t know what our services are or how they could access them,’ says Emily Rust, who works with Habitat for Humanity Heartland Ontario.
After various zoom meetings and discussions, the creative team from Conestoga College produced several marketing tools for Habitat for Humanity, including brochures, pamphlets and advertisements for billboards. “We required assistance with graphic design for a series of large scale ads for billboards and signs. We wanted to create awareness about one of our biggest builds coming up next year,” adds Rust. “The students are all professionals. They understood what we wanted and did not put pressure on us. They made it all so easy!”
Rust highlighted that Habitat focused on assisting low-income families and pointed out the positive impact on the community. “Affordable housing often creates a ripple effect. It not only helps the person buying the house, but it helps their immediate family and everyone connected to them,” she says.
For Mia Huber, from Grand River Hospital Foundation, it’s all about the community and how to reach out to them in the best possible way. “It is about creating a brand that would speak to the community and show them how we could support them in these challenging times. The students bring a different perspective to the table, which gives us a chance to be more innovative.”
Students from George Brown College designed a new logo for the Grand River Hospital Foundation. The organization was provided with several different options to pick from.
This year, Capacity Canada hosted its annual event in collaboration with Intertek Catalyst, Conestoga College, George Brown College, Manulife, Him and Her, and Kitchener Waterloo Community Foundation. While the event for Conestoga College was hosted on November 12 and 13, it was held on October 26 and 27 for George Brown College.
Students worked together in teams in the weeks leading up to the event to prepare a creative brief based on their assigned organizations’ needs and goals. Supported by art directors, writers, account managers and other industry professionals, teams began working on the marketing material at 8 am and had until 11 at night to finish the projects.
The marketing and communication materials produced included resources to help build the brand and demonstrate social impact.
Creative Day for Social Good now accepts applications from non-profits nationwide and delivers more than $100,000 of pro bono work during the overnight event.
A total of 17 non-profits were part of Creative Day for Social Good.
- Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery, Waterloo Region
- Child Witness Centre, Waterloo Wellington
- Family and Children’s Services of the Waterloo Region Foundation, Waterloo Region
- Habitat for Humanity Heartland Ontario
- Stonehenge Therapeutic Community, Waterloo Wellington
- Strong Start for Learning, Ontario
- The Meeting Place Tobermory, Northern Bruce Peninsula
- Timmins Learning Centre, Timmins, ON (including Schumacher, South Porcupine, and Porcupine)
- Tri-County Mennonite Homes, Waterloo Region & Stratford -Perth
- Working Skills Centre, GTA
- United Way of Bruce Grey, Grey and Bruce Counties
- Arts Council Wood Buffalo, Fort McMurray
- Canadian Association of Science Centres, Canada
- Empowering Indigenous Women for Stronger Communities, Newfoundland & Labrador
- Grand River Hospital Foundation, Waterloo Region
- Numus, Region of Waterloo
- Sunrise Therapeutic Riding & Learning Centre, Waterloo Wellington
