HYPE Rebrand RFP

Organization Summary

Hope For Youth, Inc. (HYPE) is a thriving Atlanta-based nonprofit organization that is empowering historically underrepresented girls of color to become future leaders in tech! With dynamic leadership that supports personal & professional growth, a mission-driven culture that prioritizes quality programming engagement for our students and partners, an in-demand product leveraged for high impact, growth, and scalability, and start-up flexibility that promotes balance for a wide range of lifestyles and preferences, HYPE is an ideal place to work, grow, and make a difference in the communities that need us most.  

Through our interactive coding camps and programs, high school internship placement, International teaching experiences, college and career readiness training, and women in tech conferences and roundtables, HYPE:

• Addresses early disparities in K-12 education that limit opportunities for girls of color to enter the tech workforce
• Inspires girls of color to confidently pursue technology careers and opportunities
• Supports retention of women of color in tech by building community and increasing representation
• Helps develop career readiness, technology, and leadership skills; thereby establishing a pipeline of diverse talent for tech-powered and tech-enabled careers

Since 2017, we have served more than 2500 students – primarily in Georgia. We aim to scale our products and services to reach 20,000 by 2028.

Our Mission

To plug the leaky tech pipeline problem for women and girls of color by building a talent network through intentional exploration, education, and empowerment

Our Vision

We aspire to achieve equitable representation of women of color in the tech industry.

Our Purpose

HYPE exists to inspire every girl to believe she can use her creativity, talent, and gifts to solve real-world problems and make valuable contributions to the world of technology.

Project Description

Over the past 6 years, HYPE has experienced significant growth and name recognition based on successful programming and prior relationships and connections. As we look to scale and attract new revenue streams and recruitment sources, we need a brand that can clearly communicate to new and unfamiliar audiences who we serve and what we do. We want a brand story that celebrates our accomplishments within the communities we serve.

Additionally, as we’ve grown to know our primary beneficiaries better (girls and young women of color ages 11 – 17), we also want our brand to reflect and resonate with them.

We are looking to accomplish a brand refresh that elevates and enhances who we’ve grown to be in a way that brings new attention and energy to the organization as a whole.

We would like to start the brand refresh project in late Summer/early Fall 2024 with a rollout scheduled for end of year.

Project Scope of Work 

HYPE is seeking proposals to help the organization establish our brand identity, with the overall goal of improving market visibility and aligning our brand image with our values, mission, and goals. We have conducted an internal brand audit and have determined that the organization’s current branding elements, including name, logo, color scheme, typography, and messaging, may require updating to better reflect our organizational identity and strategic direction.

Objectives

• Establish a recognizable brand that clearly communicates the organization’s mission
• Enhance brand recognition and differentiation in the market
• Create brand guidelines that ensure consistency across all communication channels and materials.

Deliverables

• Brand Naming: Agency to lead discussions around the possibility of a new organization name. The ideal organization will have prior experience facilitating organization naming and spearheading a methodical process for gleaning staff/stakeholder/key audience insights, as well as industry/nonprofit marketing trends, to propose the most effective and strategic permanent name for the organization’s future. 
• Brand Logo Refresh:Agency to develop creative concepts for the new brand identity or refresh, including finalizing logo design, brand markers, color palette, typography, imagery, and messaging.
• Brand Identity Refresh: Agency to develop a comprehensive brand identity book reflecting the new brand strategy, including the proposed color palette, fonts, photo guidelines, etc. Agency to also provide creative concepts for an updated campaign web page reflecting the new brand identity within the existing templates/website format.

Project Budget

The project budget will depend on the quotes received from vendors 

Interview Requirements for Agency

HYPE is extending limited invitations for marketing agencies to participate in informational interviews to further discuss collaboration opportunities.  During this 60-minute interview, the agency prospects should be prepared to share: 

• Preliminary feedback on HYPE’s branding materials: Examples of when the agency has provided
• Discussion of approach and values alignment: A brief overview of how the agency has approached this work with other nonprofit organizations – explaining their proposed process and approach.
• Proposed Project Team: Overview of key agency talent/team members who would work on this project if the agency is selected
• Proposed Timeline: High-level estimate of the proposed project timeline

Following the interview, the agency should be prepared to share the slides/PDFs including all of the above-outlined bullets as presented during the interview. 

Important Milestones and Dates

To be updated

Additional Information

• Minority and women-owned businesses are encouraged to submit
• We welcome pro bono or discounted services
• We expect vendors to provide an explanation of their strategy/methodology for engaging with key stakeholders to develop outcomes set out in the RFP
• Schedule/LOE expected from our stakeholders to engage in this project
• Provide a portfolio of previous work and client references
• Non-profit experience preferred
• Feel free to include any information regarding the diversity of your team/organization
• Remote engagements are preferred.