Print, Email & Social Media Design

About Blackbaud

Blackbaud is a global provider of software and services built for the nonprofit sector. With offices across the US, UK, Australia, and Canada, they serve 45,000+ organizations including nonprofits, foundations, and higher education institutions.

The Request

Blackbaud had a strong visual identity and needed a growing library of materials that looked native to it. 95+ assets over three years, without being on the internal team, meant brand drift was the main risk.

The initial scope included:

• Two-pagers and sales brochures

• Long-form whitepapers

• Email templates and campaign headers

• Social media assets

Every piece had to hold up next to what their internal team had already built.

The Process

Before opening a file, I audited Blackbaud's existing materials. Typefaces, hex values, icon geometry, photography style. That groundwork is what makes brand extension work at volume.

Nonprofit brands need to look credible to enterprise clients but warm enough for donors. Over-polished stock kills that balance. Their photography direction was candid and warm. Sourcing took time because close is not good enough in print.

For icons, I built a custom set: clean, angular, consistent stroke weights. For email and social, the brand rules were built into the files so consistency didn't depend on me being in every conversation.

The Outcome

A single brochure project grew into an ongoing design partnership. Over three years, we delivered 95+ assets across print, email, and social.

• Email open rates up 27% after the new template rollout

• Social engagement increased 33% in the six months after launch

• Templates adopted across 4 regional sales teams

• Internal production time cut by 35% through the reusable system

The time reduction came from the file structure. The engagement lift tracked back to the photography: nonprofit audiences respond to authenticity.