The Collaborative

The short version. The Collaborative is a nonprofit for Christian education leaders. Roar has been its brand partner since inception, two years and counting, building everything from the identity to the website to a monthly podcast, and helping it grow from one annual event into a year-round movement.

Where they started. The Collaborative began as a single event for Twin Cities education leaders, run by Incubate to Innovate, an education consultancy based in Minneapolis. After two years of running the event, the Incubate team decided to turn it into a fully functional nonprofit. As their long-time agency of record and friend, Roar was invited to be a founding member of the team and help build the organization from the ground up.

The move. The Collaborative needed a partner who knew nonprofits, branding, and growth strategy, and who understood the people it served. Trey, Roar’s principal, helped start a nonprofit in 2016 and spent years as a teacher and administrator at a Christian private school. So Roar came in with both the craft and the lived experience. The goal in year one was fifty member schools, and we built the brand and the machine to get there.

What we made:

• A full brand identity package, with a main logo, sub-brands, color, and graphic style
• A website and member portal showcasing member schools, events, and the Mastermind program
• A member experience with more than twenty Christ-centered resources and hard-to-obtain continuing education units, plus the backend to manage and deliver it all
• A monthly podcast that elevates the voices of education leaders inside and outside the nonprofit
• A direct mail engine that reaches educators in their school mailrooms
• Ongoing marketing, weekly member communications, and fundraising collateral

What happened. Over two years, The Collaborative has reached hundreds of educators and grown from three in-person events a year to more than twelve, moving to a multi-channel mix of virtual and in-person gatherings with new add-on experiences for member schools. The podcast reached nearly a thousand streams in its first year. Direct mail has become one of the most reliable ways to bring in new member schools, event attendees, and leads. Two years in, we are still the brand partner, and still building. See it at beacollaborator.com.