Deeds Not Words
A Community for Action-oriented Women
Wendy Davis
Deeds Not Words
Wendy Davis, a former Texas State Senator, came to national prominence after her marathon filibuster in the Texas State Senate. After a hard-fought, but unsuccessful campaign for governor she used her national notoriety to rally a community of young women to fulfill their potential as drivers of the political process. Wendy’s approached us to help create a non-profit organization that would engage Millenial women in the decision-making process of public policy and amplify their voices to facilitate true equality.
The Challenge
Wendy Davis
Deeds Not Words
Wendy Davis, a former Texas State Senator, came to national prominence after her marathon filibuster in the Texas State Senate. After a hard-fought, but unsuccessful campaign for governor she used her national notoriety to rally a community of young women to fulfill their potential as drivers of the political process. Wendy’s approached me to help create a non-profit organization that would engage Millenial women in the decision-making process of public policy and amplify their voices to facilitate true equality.
The Challenge
My brief was to develop a service design strategy with a two-year plan that would solidify the movement into a community and define a roadmap for every aspect of a non-profit start-up. From raising money to staffing to publishing plans. Closely collaborating with Guerilla Suit, an Austin-based branding agency, content strategist Sara Wachter-Boettcher, writer Mary van Ogtrop, and Wendy Davis herself, we created Deeds Not Words, a community for action-oriented women.
The Solution
In working to define the audience for this project, Sara Wacher-Boettcher and I created a survey that would not only try to measure what issues Millenial women care the most about but to intentionally to bring marginalized voices into the conversation. For an organization focussing on equality issues, it was important to the mission to not only hear from an engaged college-educated women, but also women of color, trans women, and more. Their voices provided a crucial guiding light for our communication strategy.
To extend the conversation beyond the website, we want to reach out to women in the places where they are active both online and IRL. Deeds Not Words promises to be ‘more than a motto,’ so when we went looking for changemakers, we found them not only on Instagram and Twitter, but also, in coffee shops, schools, the workplace, and homes. Not only does this allow the conversation to be richer, truly personal, and poignant, it also helps grow the community organically.
