The Culture & Community Power Fund is a U.S. funders’ collaborative that supports organizations in communities most impacted by systemic oppression.
Why this matters
Communities are shaped by a web of intersecting forces. These range from local political decisions—how taxpayer money will be used to fund infrastructure, for example—to broader systems that dictate the distribution of wealth, housing, healthcare, and education.
Building community power means creating pathways for people—not the one percent—to shape the decisions and systems that affect their daily lives.
The challenge
Grassroots organizations have been practicing power building in their communities for years. The goal of this site was to create a centralized place for these practitioners’ experiences, wisdom, and challenges, and to show how important culture—the traditions, stories, rituals, and spaces we share—is to that work.
Tech highlights
WordPress
Custom CMS image treatments
Custom content library
Defining power
Although community power building is, in action, a longstanding practice, the lingo that goes along with the work may be new to some people.
In providing copywriting and narrative support for this project, we wanted to help visitors develop a foundational understanding of how power works in society using accessible, clear language. On the “What is Community Power Building?” page, we break down some of the logistics of power building, as well as define relevant vocab, and provide context inherent to the work The Culture & Community Power Fund (C&CPF) does. From there, we guide readers toward more substantial references for further learning.
The ‘&’
Collaboration is at the core of C&CPF. In creating the logo, we placed an emphasis on the ampersand (&) in the organization’s name as a nod to that ethos. We delivered the ampersand in various fonts to reflect the diverse visions of each of C&CPF’s partner-grantees.
For example, the rounded font, Akaya Kanadaka, represents the joyful, celebratory aspect of culturally infused community power building. The groovy font, Pilowlava, represents C&CPF’s experimental funding approach, which remains flexible and adaptive to grantees’ needs, rather than requiring strict outcomes.
Gritty & bold
The Fund was established in 2022. As a relatively new organization taking a fresh approach to trust-based philanthropy, C&CPF wanted to stay away from anything that made it look overly established. The site’s overall look and feel, including its collage-like design elements are gritty and bold, inspired by the graphic history of protest signs and zines. The animations used throughout the site are lo-fi and snappy, to complement the gritty vibe.
The final color palette, a rich combination of orange, purple, yellow, black, and white, expresses warmth and invitation, since the Fund’s work is all about people and communities.
C&CPF’s leadership wanted to make sure practitioners felt “deeply seen and heard” when visiting the new site. Photos and visual imagery on each page feature festivals in New Orleans, local football games in Memphis, and urban farms in Oakland, highlighting the people and culture at the center of the Fund’s work.
Not-so-common knowledge in the Knowledge Commons
One distinct aspect of the new C&CPF site is its resource library, which we custom-built so that visitors can submit content and admin can review and edit it.
We created various content templates to account for articles, videos, photo essays, and audio elements. The hub hosts resources useful to those who are already working to build community power and want to see how others are approaching it, as well as those who are completely new to the space and want to learn more.
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