Lenfest Institute Branding Update RFP

October 2022

The Lenfest Institute for Journalism is a unique nonprofit organization whose sole mission is to
build sustainable business models for local journalism. The Institute’s goal is to transform the
news industry in the digital age to ensure that high-quality local journalism remains a
cornerstone of our democracy.

Journalism requires new business models, powerful innovation, and diverse audiences. The
Lenfest Institute is working throughout local news ecosystems, in Philadelphia and beyond, to
crack the code on a sustainable future for this vital resource. The Lenfest Institute is an
innovator and a change agent developing scalable solutions across Philadelphia and
nationwide.

The Institute is seeking proposals for a firm to undertake a comprehensive update to the
Institute’s website and other digital and print platforms and refresh its branding assets.

PROJECT OVERVIEW

The Lenfest Institute last developed new visual assets in 2017-2018 and completed a website
redesign in 2019. The organization has evolved dramatically since then. In the intervening
years, the Institute has undertaken a comprehensive strategic planning process that redefined
its core focus to support of four primary bodies of work: The Philadelphia Inquirer, the
Philadelphia News Ecosystem, Spotlight PA, and support of sustainable news business models
nationally. The Institute has also greatly expanded its grantmaking and programming in support
of local news publishers and journalists in Philadelphia and around the United States. In
addition, the Institute has developed robust grassroots fundraising and publishing strategies
across its platforms and through social media and print media. In short, the Institute serves
multiple audiences and constituencies, and it needs platforms and assets that can successfully
serve them all.

Through this project, the Institute is seeking a complete update to its website and other
platforms to better serve its expanded mission. It’s also seeking a refresh to existing branding
assets to more accurately reflect the current scope of the organization’s work and to better suit
its digital and print needs.
KEY ACTIVITIES

The firm will undertake the following activities:

• Complete a redesign and development of The Institute’s primary website,

lenfestinstitute.org to make it more useful to the Institute’s partners, donors, grantees,
potential grantees, and to news organizations and others who use it.
o Develop a series of use-cases for the website, and/or personas of different types
of people who will come to the website for different, though possibly
overlapping, reasons.
o Develop pathways and navigation aids so that each type of user will be able to
intuitively find the information they need.
o Help design a plan for content types and frequencies of updating to ensure the
website is always relevant and useful.
• Design and create a related site to support the Institute’s research, thought leadership,
tools library, and original publishing.
• Develop new templates for the Institute’s email newsletters
• Create templates and assets for the Institute to utilize across digital platforms
• Create templates for print newspaper advertisements
• Create templates for printed donor materials
• Design new branded assets such as PowerPoint/Google Slides templates, letterhead,
etc.

TIMELINE

Deadline to submit proposal Oct. 28, 2022

Review and Selection of Firm Early November 2022

Begin Project Mid-November 2022

Complete Project Spring 2023

EVALUATION

Specific attention will be paid to the following criteria:

• Organization and capabilities, including credentials, experience, and references
• Commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion
• Vision for the project and proposed activities
• Competitiveness of fees

HOW TO SUBMIT
Interested firms should send a proposal with “Branding RFP” in the subject line to
joseph@lenfestinstitute.org by October 28, 2022. Please contact Joseph Lichterman at
joseph@lenfestinstitute.org with any questions.

Proposals should include:

• Overview of the firm and relevant team members
• Vision for this project, including summary of proposed activities/deliverables
• Statement on commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion
• 3-5 samples of relevant past work and clients
• Proposed budget and timeline