Lowcountry Food Bank staff sign the back of the feature wall before it is hung in the lobby.

As the reality of stay-at-home orders and business closures unfolded in the spring of 2020, Heurista made a decision: if one of our nonprofit clients asked us to complete a project, we’d do it even if it meant our team would need to travel. We completed many amazing projects over the course of the year, but none as large or as surprising as the work we did for the Lowcountry Food Bank.

In 2018, Heurista began talking with the Lowcountry Food Bank assuming that we’d be focused on donor and sponsor recognition. A tour of the Charleston, South Carolina facility led to the request for a full recommendations report to identify opportunities for philanthropic placemaking. That report had one overarching theme: make the facility itself an experience of Lowcountry Food Bank brand for the thousands of volunteers, sponsors, donors, and staff who work in the space in the course of a year. The recommendations were well received, but as often happens, our friends in the Lowcountry were quiet for a good long while. When they came to life about the project, however, they came on big! Instead of choosing one or two of the projects we’d recommended, they selected five areas to improve – the lobby, development hallway, Chef Carter BackPack Buddies Room, the newly named Smith Volunteer Break Room, and the adjacent area in the warehouse. As the work unfolded, a donor recognition display, the Staff Break Room, and Community Conference Room were added to the project list. Installations in those spaces were completed in late 2020 and they went so well, we’ll be expanding the program into more spaces in the coming year.

The graphic themes created for the building – a new color palette, a colorful fruit and vegetable-based pattern, and a plank wood pattern have become standards in the print and online branding for the Lowcountry Food Bank.

Here’s a showcase of the work installed in 2020. We’ll post an update when the new pieces go in in 2021!

Lobby

First impressions are important, and it’s no different at a food bank. Clients, community supporters, and staff all enter through the lobby making it the highest traffic area in the facility. A feature wall was constructed from new and reclaimed lumber from the wooden pallets that are elemental in moving large quantities of food.

Community Room

The Community Room is the hub of communication at Lowcountry Food Bank and is used by staff, volunteers and visiting groups. This is where ideas are born, collaborated on, and eventually make their way to service for the community. This is why CEO Pat Walker wanted the mission to be front and center when people enter the room. In conjunction with mission-focused photography, there are two whiteboards at the head of the room—one with their motto, FEED. ADVOCATE. EMPOWER, and another with a map of the 10 counties served by the Lowcountry Food Bank.

Philanthropy Center

Donor recognition was given a new home in a philanthropy center — a versatile display space for listing donors alongside the key accomplishments made possible by their giving. This display allows for a wider representation of the support and resources it takes to feed a region and provides increased capacity as the roster of donors grows.

Chef Carter BackPack Buddies Room

From volunteer orientation to the packing of backpacks for children in the community, the Chef Carter BackPack Buddies Room is a working space for volunteers and staff. This room revisits the service area map to orient volunteers to the 10 counties served by this facility, and has a narrative piece of recognition about Chef Carter and his support of their childhood hunger programs.

Smith Family Volunteer Center

Located in the warehouse, the Smith Family Volunteer Center is where much of the work is done to get food processed, organized, and ready for distribution. Inside the volunteer break room we implemented a magnetic board for the volunteer name badges, a neat and orderly message board, and a vinyl stripe repeating the veggie and fruit pattern found throughout the building. With the addition of a digital screen for broadcasting news and celebrating accomplishments the space allows learning while on break.

One of the goals was to improve the storytelling about donors to help educate all audiences about the importance of financial support of the Lowcountry Food Bank. In addition to honoring donors who’ve made major gifts, naming opportunities should also provide mission-critical information and motivate additional giving.

Staff Breakroom

The Lowcountry Food Bank employs over 70 staff members. Using similar pieces as in the volunteer breakroom, the staff breakroom has communication spaces specific to internal news and updates.

Written By Anne Manner-McLarty

Anne Manner-McLarty is the managing editor of the Journal of Donor Relations and Stewardship and the founder and lead strategist of Heurista. Founded in 2011, Heurista is the leading resource for consulting specific to donor relations and stewardship, with particular expertise in the donor recognition program design and implementation.

Philanthropic Placemaking at the Lowcountry Food Bank