Insights

Thoughts and expertise on strategy, branding, and donor engagement across the urban and international community development landscape.

Your Organization Needs a What We Do Say/What We Don’t Say Lexicon

By Bill Cummings

No one likes the word police—and no one wants to be that person on your team either, cutting a coworker off to admonish, “We don’t use that term here.” And yet, finding the ideal language is incredibly important to being inclusive and effective in your work. There’s a big difference between calling a person a…

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Introducing the Liminal eBook: Effective Nonprofit Branding

By Todd Hiestand

At Liminal, we thrive in the realm of possibility, where uncertainty meets potential. But it wasn’t always this way. We had to live through our own periods of career upheaval, with all the discomfort and doubt, before we were able to embrace the power of life’s most ambiguous, in-between moments. On the other side, we…

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Rebranding as a rite of passage

By Todd Hiestand

In life, there are seasons where you have to rebuild from scratch — where you’re faced with an ending you may not have seen coming. That’s true for people, and that’s true for organizations. The way to make the most of these periods of change is to think of them differently: What if this wasn’t…

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The New Liminal Creative: Merging With Groundswell

By Todd Hiestand

Liminal Creative is growing! I (Todd) am excited to officially announce that as of January 1, 2022, Liminal Creative is merging with Groundswell, whose founder, Bill Cummings will join our team as Co-Owner and Co-CEO. Bill has been a good friend of Todd’s for over ten years and is a seasoned nonprofit founder, leader, marketer,…

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Embracing the Liminal: Navigating Growth and Transformation with Liminal Creative

By Todd Hiestand

The word “Liminal” means: “that space in-between where you are now and where you want to be in the future.” Everyone goes through at least one major liminal time in their lives. It’s a weird space. It’s unsettled. It’s uncomfortable. Far too often, it’s downright painful. In liminal times, you know you are not where you…

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Redefining Representation: Empowering Voices and Shaping Narratives in the Nonprofit Sector

By Bill Cummings

In my twenty-five years of experience in the nonprofit sector, I can’t count how many times I have heard organizations use the phrase “we are a voice for the voiceless.” In the early days of my work in this space, I used similar phrases without giving much thought to the implication of my words. I…

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Unleashing Emotion: How Embracing Vulnerability Can Drive Personal Growth and Foster Deeper Connections

By Bill Cummings

I spent the first half of my adult life resisting the urge to cry, likely because I bought into societal messages regarding masculinity. I often found myself moved by certain circumstances or topics, but my emotions would get lodged somewhere between my chest and throat. Later in life, I discovered that the things that moved…

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What Do Pumpkin Spice Lattes Have to Do With Year-End Fundraising Campaigns?

By Bill Cummings

Few things make me do a double-take more than walking into Target or Walgreens in late August and being confronted by shelves upon shelves of Halloween candy and decorations. Just last week, Dunkin’ introduced its pumpkin-spice menu earlier than ever before. It seems, ahead of tasting the first bite of our kids’ Halloween loot, we’re…

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Crafting Your Identity: Unveiling the Power of Clear Brand Messaging for Organizations

By Bill Cummings

Have you ever struggled with introducing yourself to a new group of people? Maybe you can relate to finding it difficult to answer when asked, “Can you tell me about yourself?” If you’re anything like me, you’ve experienced an increased heart rate, palms getting a little sweaty, heat traveling to your face as your mind…

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Cultivating Meaningful Relationships: The Secret Sauce for Sustainable Giving in Nonprofits

By Todd Hiestand

I was recently talking with a leader of a nonprofit. Our discussion was about how they wanted to focus on recurring gifts for their end-of-year campaign. Recurring donations, after all, are considered to be the “special sauce” of sustaining a nonprofit organization for the long term. The challenge is that most people don’t think of…

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Beyond Donations: Engaging the Whole Person in Your Digital Marketing Strategy

By Todd Hiestand

People aren’t one-dimensional. Your digital content mustn’t be either.  When it comes to digital marketing plans and management, we need to emphasize how important it is to engage the whole person. This means more than simply focusing your marketing efforts on getting people to donate to your cause. Donations are vital to your work, but…

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