Fast-to-Market Website, Brand Building, and Donation Capabilities Increase Exposure for Athletes for Justice

Athletes for Justice is a nonprofit organization founded by professional athletes seeking to amplify the strength and resilience of under-resourced communities across the country. In 2018, five team members (Sam Acho, Trey Burton, Chase Daniel, Akiem Hicks, and Mitch Trubisky) felt inspired to seek lasting change and banded together to create Athletes for Justice.

Today, what began as five athletes from the Chicago Bears has since welcomed athletes from the NFL, NBA, WNBA, NHL, and MLB who are all committed to fighting structural inequalities in Chicago and beyond. 

The Problem

Athletes for Justice’s Founder, Board Members, and Communication Team recognized the need for a professional website to properly represent the organization. They also required a logo and full brand expression that would accurately reflect the organization and provide a consistent brand experience across multiple channels.

Rounding out their needs was the ability to take donations online. All this was needed with a quick turnaround, as Athletes for Justice had an upcoming opportunity for exposure with the Chicago Sky audience.

Athletes for Justice chose Adage for their web design, development, and branding needs due to Adage's portfolio of large nonprofit work and credibility in the space.

Athletes for Justice needed a logo, web design, and accompanying material for a vast number of brand exposure possibilities. Beginning with a digital strategy workshop, Adage revealed the founders’ true vision and navigated multiple stakeholder perspectives to produce a comprehensive, digital-first brand with holistic brand guidelines and training to set the Athletes for Justice Team up for success. 

Fast-to-Market

Athletes for Justice was on a tight timeline. They had a fast-approaching opportunity with the Chicago Sky, who would dedicate their season to Athletes for Justice. The website and donation platform needed to be ready in time for the announcement. Adage chose Umbraco, an open source, .NET, developer-friendly CMS for the Athletes for Justice website. Uskinned templates allowed Adage design and development teams to work fast. Plus, Umbraco is user-friendly and the Athletes for Justice Team could populate content while the site was being built.

Digital Strategy

A fact-finding Adage-led workshop allowed the Athletes for Justice Team to discuss strategy and organizational direction that resulted in alignment across all stakeholders.

The Adage Digital Strategy Team also offered guidance around marketing communications and brand rollout. The result led to the Athletes for Justice team being able to produce a cohesive brand across various platforms ahead of launch.

Athletes for Justice's collaboration with Adage was a resounding success and the website and brand launched before their expedited timeline.

Donation Capabilities

Athletes for Justice needed to quickly launch a donation platform that their Communications Team could easily manage and that made it easy for people to make donations.

Adage vetted platforms for associated fees, user experience, technical capabilities, and the organization’s unique needs. They launched the site with donation capabilities on time and on budget.

The new donation platform allowed for Chicago Sky's audience to give immediately when the announcement was made for the new season.

Adage felt like an extension of the Athletes for Justice Team. The level of service was outstanding and we respect their honest, expert opinion.
Casey Buck
Communications Director, Athletes for Justice

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