Opinion BY Armin

A Fire Burns for Non-profits

Established in 1980, the Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF) has been helping non-profit organizations with direct loans as well as consulting services on financial growth and stability. I first became aware of the NFF when one of our clients worked with them to establish a growth prospectus and while designing some materials for our client I couldn’t help but notice what a poor identity for such an important organization the NFF had. This past August, NFF released a new identity, designed by C&G Partners.

Although the old logo appears here with its full name, it’s more common to find the acronym logo floating around by itself, making it unclear what they do — for an organization that’s not clear-cut what they actually do you could say that’s a detriment. One of C&G’s first recommendations was to embrace the full name:

To design the new logo, C&G Partners addressed several key communication challenges. The first task was the name. The seemingly contradictory relationship between “nonprofit” and “finance fund” needed to be addressed and clarified through the design process. Since the full breadth of NFF’s services is not immediately apparent nor universally known, “the new identity needed to establish a link between the organization’s analytical, strategically focused, financial expertise and its warm, humane, aspirational culture and mission,” explained Leslie Sherr, Director of Brand Strategy.

Partner and Brand Identity Practice Lead Steff Geissbuhler responded to this set of dualities through a reconfigured name that alters the emphasis of the words, accompanied by a symbol that speaks to their interconnectedness. The full name — “Nonprofit Finance Fund” — was separated, stacked and aligned flush right, creating a clear distinction between the organization’s main clients — Nonprofits — and its offerings — captured by “Finance Fund.”
— Press Release (on Facebook)

Replacing the clunky NFF logo is an elegant and serious icon that pairs a solid pyramid structure with a subtly organic flame. I’m more of a symmetrical person myself so the first thing that jumped out was that there were five flames to four steps, creating a slight imbalance. But I can see why creating some tension was desired, perhaps to make it less square (not as in the shape but as in the adjective). Call me nostalgic, but it’s nice to see a strong icon that is neither literal nor relying on visual pyrotechnics that, with a little bit of effort from the viewer, one can derive his or her own meanings. But for the record:

A symbol was added to this stacked arrangement that connects two seemingly disparate shapes — a cool, dark gray, pyramid and a soft, warm, undulating flame — which refer to the organization’s expertise and mission. The distinction — and interdependence — between the two sides is reinforced in the new tagline: Where Money Meets Mission. The two-color orange and gray solution is also appropriately modest for a sector that stretches each dollar as far as it will go. The supporting sans serif typeface, Univers, brings consistency across all touch points, including advertising, print and online communications.

Stationery (above) and back of business card detail.

In action, the icon serves as a defining axis whether it is small, as in the web site, or large as in the business card above or the guidelines below. This is a solid execution that works from logo to applications.

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Established in 1980, the Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF) has been helping non-profit organizations with direct loans as well as consulting services on financial growth and stability. I first became aware of the NFF when one of our clients worked with them to establish a growth prospectus and while designing some materials for our client I couldn't help but notice what a poor identity for such an important organization the NFF had. This past August, NFF released a new identity, designed by C&G Partners.

Many thanks to our ADV @ UnderConsideration Partners