| Vision to Voicesm Campaign
| The Facts: Nonprofit Communications | Public
Communications Campaigns | What Are Campaigns? Statement of Need | Outcomes and Evaluations | Strategic Communications Audit | Opportunities and the Road Ahead A Designer's Foundation | History | Mission | Vision | Board of Trustees | Advisory Panel | Contact |
|
|
History |
In 1999, Ron Thompson started an all-volunteer organization in
Dallas, Texas called Dallas Area Designers for the Arts, which matched
volunteer graphic designers with nonprofit arts groups. Part of the
Dallas Arts Resource Service, Designers for the Arts was never intended
to be a long-standing effort. However, the need in the community was so
great it eventually evolved to become Design Texas as more non-arts and
non-Dallas specific organizations expressed interest in the service.
During this time, emphasis shifted from matching volunteers with
individual organizations to working with networked and collaborating
nonprofit organizations to share resources organized by Design Texas.
The most successful model being a television public service
announcement (PSA) produced to raise awareness and recruit mentors,
foster families, and adoptive families for teenagers in foster care
created in cooperation with the Transition Resource Action Center
(TRAC). This PSA is still in use. Design Texas later evolved to Design
America to take advantage of a national partnership with a
multi-national advertising staffing firm to leverage their resources to
find qualified volunteers to work with nonprofit organizations on a
national scope. The experience garnered from "boots on the ground" field activity laid the groundwork for the governing principles leading to A Designer's Foundation. |