Dandelion Dispatch #0225: Easter Seals Michigan
Easter Seals Michigan (ESM) is a nearly 100 year-old nonprofit charitable organization dedicated to helping people with disabilities gain greater independence. Although they have a strong name recognition among their target audience, many constituents and the general public lacked understanding of the organization’s full menu of services, which have expanded and evolved considerably over the years.
Dandelion worked closely with the ESM leadership team on a number of strategically critical projects, ranging from brand voice and design to team member engagement and fund development.
Be Extraordinary
Dandelion collaborated with the ESM executive team to convey the stories, facts and services offered, and communicate the incredible impact this organization has had on our community. Dandelion worked to develop a strong brand identity and messaging which resonated with internal and external stakeholders as well as a strategic rollout of the new materials. Dandelion continues to provide ESM with support in communications, fund development, brand identity and tactical efforts, so they can devote their full attention to their mission of serving people with disabilities.
Specifically, Dandelion developed the “Be Extraordinary” campaign. ESM needed a welcoming, positive message. They needed better terms than “disabled” or “special needs” — a gentler, more empowering way to communicate the diverse client base they serve and the spectrum of needs they serve. Our team developed the messaging and collateral materials (for marketing and communications) around this campaign.
The Legacy Project
ESM leadership wanted a mechanism to engage team members statewide — to get them excited about working for ESM, whether they were a case manager working directly with clients or an accountant in the payroll department. After learning that ESM had a wealth of photos, video and audio recordings that had been collected over several decades, our team culled through the archives, much of which was previously unlabeled.
To give current team members a sense of heritage and to preserve their legacy for future generations, Dandelion developed The Legacy Project. We designed and built an online portal where the thousands of ESM team members across the state could submit their extraordinary stories (through photos, text, and voice recordings). Our team also designed the collateral materials and message around this campaign.
Dandelion pulled together a video team to interview selected ESM team members about their work and asked them to share some of their extraordinary experiences on camera. The interviews along with historical video footage were edited together and screened at ESM’s annual All Hands team meeting.
Annual Impact Report
Like many nonprofit organizations, ESM distributes an annual report with their financial information and program highlights. ESM approached Dandelion with a request to shake up their usual format and design a report that was more exciting and easier to digest.
Dandelion created a lightweight yet informative report with a strong focus on the impact ESM has in the community and the real difference their team members make in the lives of ESM customers. We incorporated infographic style design to present financial data in a more engaging format and visually represent the impact ESM created throughout the year. With ESM’s permission, we renamed it the Easter Seals Michigan Annual Impact Report.
L.U.N.A
Easter Seals Michigan received a grant from the Michigan Health Endowment Fund to develop and deploy a trauma assessment tool to be administered to children ages 6–17.
ESM’s ultimate goal was to refocus the conversation around trauma. There are often misconceptions that trauma means physical violence or extreme psychological abuse. This is not the case. A number of childhood experiences, such as a friend moving away or the loss of a grandparent, could elicit a trauma response from a child. But untreated trauma can put kids at risk of physical and behavioral health issues later in life.
ESM wanted to empower educators, parents and clinicians to identify and respond to behaviors which may signal a response to underlying trauma. If they could identify the behaviors early, ESM believed, the child could get the support he or she needed to heal.
ESM established three tiers for the assessment process. They developed a simple four-question tool for the first tier which parents, educators and healthcare workers determine whether a child may need additional screening or counseling. They needed a name and branding for the assessment, and a plan to deploy it into the community.
Dandelion established a name and acronym for the trauma screening process: Look, Uncover, Nurture, Act. Our team created a story for LUNA, based on the lunar cycle and the moon’s effect on unseen forces like weather and gravity. We designed branding and communications materials which reflect the astronomy theme in LUNA’s name. Dandelion advised on a rollout strategy for deploying LUNA into the community, starting with behavioral health case workers and ESM partner organizations in the foster care network, then expanding to reach educators and finally parents.
