The Dallas Jewish Community Foundation is a philanthropic partner and catalyst for building & sustaining Jewish community legacy—now and forever.
The Dallas Jewish Community Foundation has been a force in Dallas philanthropy since 1973. But after fifty years of connecting donors to the causes they care about most, supporting Jewish institutions, and awarding scholarships, it was time for the organizations brand to catch up.
Through facilitated sessions with DJCF’s leadership and board, a clear picture emerged of an organization that was genuinely great at its work, but struggled to communicate its why. Donors have a number of choices in how to direct their charitable giving: national DAF providers, low cost do-it-yourself options, local community foundations and peer Jewish organizations. We needed to ensure that current and prospective fundholders and the professional advisors who serve them saw DJCF as the partner of choice. They needed donors to understand that DJCF had the expertise to help them give strategically, especially toward investments that directly support the Jewish community. And because some donors prefer a secular entity for their giving, DJCF’s affiliate, the Southwest Community Foundation (SWCF), needed to be fully accounted for in the new brand system.
During our research, we discovered something that genuinely moved us: the Jewish concept of tikkun olam—repairing the world. It’s woven into the fabric of how DJCF donors see their own giving, and it became the animating force behind the brand.
The new DJCF brand has been fully adopted across the organization, embraced by board and donors alike. DJCF has grown its team since launch, and the work has been a platform for real growth. The foundation recently announced a record year, distributing $41 million in grants to more than 1,700 charitable organizations, with $3.3 million in scholarships awarded to over 1,200 recipients.
A New Path Emerges
After exploring several themes with the DJCF team, we aligned on an impact-driven, bold, electric look and feel. For the mark itself, we leaned on the DJCF acronym—already how the organization refers to itself—paired with a new brandmark that fuses two of Judaism’s most important symbols, the Star of David and a flame.
A Coordinated Effort
For the Southwest Community Foundation (SWCF) affiliate, the star shifts slightly, opening into a sun, and picking up a southwestern palette of gold, terra cotta, and a pop of the DJCF blue.
Websites that Work
The websites for each organization is built to do real work: audience-focused navigation, a clear pathway to open a donor-advised fund, storytelling infrastructure for impact stories and scholarship profiles, and detailed data about investment pool options. A content pull makes it a snap to publish on DJCF and display on SWCF.
