Our clients
Not So Churchy
How do we reflect the core of who we are?
Not So Churchy is a place of healing and hope, where queerness and curiosity expand the spiritual journey beyond boxes and binaries. This eclectic community also happens to have been started by Mieke, and is where she currently serves. We engage as their regular designer, including the beautification of annual reports and the website that serves as a spiritual home for this geographically diverse community.
Synod of the Northeast
Who needs a synod?
The General Assembly of the PCUSA asked synods around the country to answer the question of why they should exist. We worked with Synod of the Northeast to come up with their response.
“We are glad to be working again with Vandersall Collective on branding our biennial worship, learning and fellowship gathering. Working with Vandersall Collective is accessing creativity, diligence, and passion commitment to radical welcome and pursuit of justice.”
— The Rev. Dr. Amaury Tañón-Santos, Synod of the Northeast
Several years ago, the Synod of the Northeast of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) was responding to a mandate from its national body to examine its effectiveness and purpose. While being open to complete disbandedment, they learned that they have particular gifts to share, and that the diversity of the gathered community was too important to lose. To emphasize the gifts of this gathered body, they worked to refocus their energies, flipping the balance so that gathering received more emphasis than governing, allowing the gathering time to be filled with energy and the governing time to be filled with purpose.
In three key areas, we have been honored to work with the Synod to help implement its new strategic vision.
COMMUNICATION
We created and implemented a cohesive and cross-platform communication plan in consultation with the Synod, and as a result of a communications audit. The website was used as a community hub where information was shared clearly and effectively. A video was created to communicate the personalities and the impact the Synod is having on the life of its constituents. An eblast schedule and template (both visual and content) was created to further tell those stories, driving traffic back to the website. Finally, we created special branding for their two biennial conferences, known as Come to the Table.
To effectively communicate their vision, and the new ways of engagement that come out of that vision, their website needed to become a vital location centralizing communication and provide opportunity for community-building. After completing a communications audit and report, we took their existing logo and vision, flushed out a verbal and visual brand identity, and created a new, easy to update website.
To communicate with their constituency in between events, as well as to communicate the weight and importance of their work with current and potential donors, we created a robust package of print materials. Their Robert L. Washington Scholars & Fellows program was established to provide leadership opportunities for young and/or people of color, and we also created a gorgeous and hefty annual report.
The Synod also needed a way to personally and persuasively communicate their vision and warmth to the people in their large geographic area without physically having to be present. Our creative team reflected their story back through a short video. Working with a team from the Synod we wrote a script, gathered leaders from throughout the Synod together for a day-long shoot, and then edited together a video currently used in their local communities, and at fundraising events.
Stories of hope and innovation that exemplified the Synod’s deepened purposed needed to be shared persuasively and effectively. We created a communication schedule and guidelines, integrating the website, social media and new eblast templates to reflect the new brand identity. We also worked with the staff to train them to take their design templates and do it on their own.
Finally, as the Synod's focus shifted to gathering, the first non-governing event was a major undertaking. Our services were contracted to help the planning team create and execute a hospitable, organized experience for their guests. We took the branding platform and guidelines and implemented them through the creation of a registration process and conference booklet. We also worked with the worship team to align our worship time with the new vision of the Synod. Mieke Vandersall, Derrick McQueen, Paul Vasile, and Larissa Kwong-Abazia of the Vandersall Collective were instrumental in making this event a success.
GRANT-MAKING
In their process of re-visioning, the Synod reallocated significant funding to support innovative ministry within their geographical bounds. When we began our work with the Synod they asked for help in reconstructing their grant applications, application process, and review process. Using best practices, putting more trust in the applicants, and encouraging them to explain their needs in their own words, we first wrote a report after speaking with various past grantees with recommendations for change and then worked with the Mission and Ministry Commission (their Board-equivalent) to refresh their process and encourage a more mutual relationship between the applicants and their Synod. The stories of the applicants were also the basis of our communication strategy.
FUNDRAISING
With so many new people, congregations and organizations seeking funding from the Synod, and the heightened communication about the granting opportunities, the generous funding set aside in the Synod’s budget was being spent faster than ever before. In order to understand how best to raise funds, we completed a development audit, and then began a robust major-donor program, integrating the opportunity for giving on the website, organizing multiple cultivation events throughout the northeast, and launching the Synod's inaugural year-end campaign highlighting the impact of the grants made to innovative ministries.
Westminster Presbyterian Church
How does our staffing, working and structure reflect who we want to be?
Westminster Presbyterian Church is a congregation in West Hartford, CT that found itself at a crossroads. They needed help exploring what worship means to them, as well as exploration of staffing models. We worked with them by providing a congregational assessment tool, and then using that as well as a staffing audit and worship audit to provide recommendations for their life moving forward. We then coached the pastor in implementing our recommendations.
Case Study
A traditional church must find a path between the comforts of tradition and the challenges of deeper engagement in spiritual growth and community life.
Who are we as a congregation?
How do we relate to our community?
How do we re-invigorate a once glorious music program?
How do we attract people to worship?
Do we have the right structure to support our work and worship?
How do we stay relevant and serve God fully?
VEHICLES FOR CHANGE
Congregational Assessment Tool (CAT)—Surveying beliefs and priorities, rather than likes and preferences, the CAT reveals aspects of congregational identity that lay the foundation for meaningful, sustainable growth and change.
Staff Audit—Focusing on the needs of the congregation and its larger context, staffing is aligned and re-framed in life-giving ways that reflect the true priorities of the church’s mission and vision. No more structure for structure’s sake.
Worship and Music Audit and Modeling—Coming out of the choir loft and revisiting the relationships among the elements and entry points that deepen and expand opportunities for worship, the audit, along with coaching and guidance, breathes new life into the center of congregational experience.
NEW DIRECTIONS
Congregational self-understanding leads to new ways of being that are authentic and full of possibility.
Staffing that reflects the life and mission of the church, rather than serving a structure that no longer fits, frees church leadership to be more creative and engaged.
Breaking a mold of passive and performative traditions, worship and music is integrated with congregational and community life, taking full advantage of space and time, infusing life and opening toward the movement of the Spirit
ON THE HORIZON
Outward facing priorities that look beyond whether we’re keeping the congregation happy.
Intergenerational spiritual engagement and integration with day-to-day life.
Diversity and creativity in music, art, use of space, conversation, and worship patterns.