Bartol FoundationBartol funds Philadelphia teaching artists, and too few of them knew. I built the social and brand strategy that put its grants in front of the people they were for.
My Role
Social media intern, then social media manager, then social and brand strategist
Team
Worked Directly with Bartol’s Executive Director
Credits
Strategy, content and design: Destiny Washington
Executive Director: Beth Feldman Brandt
Designed within Bartol's existing brand guidelines
Client
Bartol Foundation
Dates
2019 - 2022
Type of Project
Self-initiated strategy pitch that became client work (Laurice Creative)
before
After
The brief
-
An outdated website and almost no social presence meant very few artists applied for Bartol's grants.
-
Pitched and built a social and brand strategy, a content system and SOPs, and helped rebuild the website.
-
Grant applicants rose from 4–8 per cycle to 8x the average. The Q2 2021 grant round drew 36 applications and funded 24 grants, $155,000 in all.
“make the grants
easy to find, and the grantees impossible to miss.”
Challenge
The Stockton Rush Bartol Foundation funds teaching artists and small arts organizations in Philadelphia. Its website was old and outdated, and it had almost no social media presence, so word of its grants barely traveled. A typical Teaching Artist Micro-Grant cycle drew only 4–8 applicants. The audience is small and specific, and a lot of them had never heard of the resources available to them.
Insight
Money was never the problem. Visibility was. Artists can't apply for a grant they never see, so every post, newsletter and web page had to work as a path to the application, and every announcement had to feel like it came from a community,
not an institution.
Idea & System
I started as Bartol's social media intern in 2019 and pitched a strategy on my own. It worked, and my role grew over the years from intern to manager to social and brand strategist. I built the content system (pillars, posting rhythm and templates), a monthly e-newsletter, grantee spotlights and workshop promotion, plus the SOPs that let the work keep running. I also helped rebuild the website around the grant programs.
RESULTS
8x the applications
1
Per awards cycle, up from 4–8 in total.
In the Q2 2021 grant round.
36 applicants
2
$155,000 awarded
3
Across 24 grants.