Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Identity - Communications Toolset - Annual Reports - Design Language - Web

Background

The world has never seen a nonprofit as large as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the challenges are staggering. When Warren Buffett decided to entrust Bill and Melinda to use his wealth to heal the world these challenges came to a boiling point. The Foundation needed to build insight and understand all of its global stakeholders and deliver effective communication through all available channels to effectively deliver the vision and mission within each advocacy area.

Our mission was forged from one simple yet profound question:

"All lives have equal value. How do we communicate this?"

Objective

Comunicate: All lives have equal value

• Align Global audience and all stakeholders
• Develop online communication platforms
• Communicate Warrens Buffet's gift to the Foundation of $30 billion to the world
• Develop annual reports integrating the Foundation and the new Gates Trust
• Tell the human stories of grantees and Foundation programs

Solution

We developed the stories, design language and communications tools necessary to help each stakeholder (internal program areas, grantees, and the public) understand the role they play and the roles of others. We developed a story based on the vision of curing TB. Every day 8,000 people die from TB, each week 56,000 and in a year 2.9 million. The work of the Foundation is not based on finding the cure tomorrow, but if the cure is found one day sooner because of the Gates' efforts, 8,000 lives have been saved.

Because this is such a unique challenge, we need to end with this question.

What is your life worth? Your child? Your neighbor? A stranger's child?