Crafting a new mission, vision and name to share the story of an organization’s evolution
OurChallenge
Gateway Domestic Violence Services has provided shelter and comprehensive services to adults and children fleeing domestic violence for over 45 years. With an executive director energized to steward the organization into the future, the Gateway team challenged Barefoot PR to develop a new mission, vision, values, name and message that better represented the organization’s work.
OurSolution
Barefoot PR’s strategy team began this project by listening and learning about the organization’s vision for the future. The team connected with previous staff, community partners, board members and others to learn more about the organization’s voice and tone. This learning included a tour of the organization’s main offices and shelter, which allowed the Barefoot team to connect to the Gateway community.
The Barefoot team then facilitated a mission, vision and values workshop with Gateway staff and board. The group explored the organization’s evolution and vision for a future free from domestic violence. The team learned more about the organization’s current culture and Gateway’s future aspirations. Using this insight, the Barefoot team presented a series of vision, mission and values statements for the staff and board to react to, and then co-created final statements that could serve as a foundation to usher the organization into the future.
Through our conversations, the Barefoot team started to find inspiration in the notion of past, present and future. The team presented a series of naming pathways that could reflect this idea of reflection, stability and evolution. After coming to a consensus on the path Gateway wanted to explore, Barefoot PR presented a series of new naming options paired with narratives to explain the intention of each choice.
The Gateway team and board favored one of these options: Three Birds Alliance. This name was intended to shed light on the path those fleeing domestic violence face when leaving their past to find a safe landing spot for respite as they begin to hope and plan for their future.
Barefoot PR incorporated the organization’s new name into a messaging platform and provided the team with several transition messages that they could use to reintroduce the organization as Three Birds Alliance to the community.
