Immigrant and refugee support
Upwardly Global
Spitfire partnered with Upwardly Global to bring their work to life through strategic branding and communications, with a specific focus on their 2017 objectives. Upwardly Global works with skilled immigrants and refugees in the U.S. to help them find meaningful work that matches their experience and education levels. In 2017, they sought to augment fundraising and increase employer partnerships. To get there, they knew they would need to hit the ground running with sound branding and a solid communications plan.
We began our partnership with them by conducting research about how the organization communicates with both internal and external audiences. We identified strengths as well as opportunities for improvement. Next, we led a communication planning meeting with the Upwardly Global team to discuss strategic goals and objectives.
Building on this research, we developed and refined a brand brief with input from the organization. Finally, we crafted a comprehensive communication plan for two 2017 objectives: one centered around augmenting fundraising, the other around increasing employer partnerships.
In the second phase of work together, we began to implement this communication plan. In a year filled with immigration policy changes, we applied the lessons from our research to craft tailored outreach to potential funders and employer partners in ways that would motivate them to get involved. We used messaging that was powerful and aligned with the organization’s values, but also matched these audiences’ desire to focus on impacted communities rather than politics.
Upwardly Global ran successful content curation campaigns with this messaging over email, social media, and earned media channels. Spitfire also helped produce two videos featuring program alumni – one for employer partners, which focused on Upwardly Global’s work with Reddy Ice to hire an Iraqi refugee, and the other for donors, which focused on how the organization’s work to help a Ugandan immigrant find meaningful work ultimately benefited her whole family.
Upwardly Global saw high levels of engagement across all platforms and had a successful 2017 replete with new donors and new employer partnerships, thanks in part to our work together. And Spitfire will continued to work with Upwardly Global in 2018 to help the organization communicate with their target audiences through whatever challenges came next.