RFP: Rebranding the Center for Financial Inclusion

About Accion:

Accion is a global nonprofit committed to creating a financially inclusive world, with a trailblazing legacy in microfinance and fintech impact investing. We catalyze financial service providers to deliver high-quality, affordable solutions at scale for the 1.8 billion people who are left out of, or poorly served by, the financial sector. For more than 60 years, Accion has helped tens of millions of people through our work with more than 200 partners in 63 countries. More at http://www.accion.org.

About Center for Financial Inclusion

The Center for Financial Inclusion is an independent global think tank that uses rigorous research and advocacy to advance inclusive financial systems for low-income people around the world.  CFI works to advance inclusive financial services for the billions of people who currently lack the financial tools needed to improve their lives and prosper. It leverages partnerships to conduct research and test promising solutions and then advocates for evidence-based change.

Current Opportunity

CFI is seeking an agency to conduct brand research and recommend a new name for the organization, and then design new logos for CFI and its two sub-brands, with the goal of enhancing our brand identity and better positioning CFI as a leader in the fast-evolving inclusive finance sector. The brand refresh would be separate from, but run concurrent with, the redesign and relaunch of our website. We are ideally looking for a consultancy that has a strong background in working with nonprofits in the development sector, has experience in the financial industry, and can apply an international lens to its work.

Background

CFI was founded by Accion in 2008 to serve as an independent think tank on inclusive finance. Our vision is a world where all people can use financial services and participate in the economy to improve their lives and prosper. We are a leading research and advocacy-oriented think tank, housed at Accion, that has fostered deep relationships with financial service providers, impact investors and fintechs, as well as field practitioners, policymakers, regulators, and researchers in advocating for financial products and services that improve the lives of poor people. Our focus is cutting-edge, action-oriented research. Currently, we focus on four strategic areas – consumer protection, data risks and opportunities, women’s financial inclusion, and green inclusive finance.

CFI also serves as a convener of thought leaders in the sector, stimulating debate and innovation on the role of financial services in addressing the underlying drivers of poverty and prosperity.   We organize and host the annual Financial Inclusion Week, an online global gathering where over 3,000 participants in the inclusive finance community engage, share ideas, and showcase their work. We manage Inclusive Fintech 50, a global innovation competition to identify cutting-edge fintechs that have the potential to drive financial inclusion. And we convene the Responsible Finance Forum, a global platform for knowledge sharing and dialog among a coalition of stakeholders working to assess and manage rapidly evolving consumer risks faced by financial systems and low-income people.

Our work is constantly evolving as new opportunities and risks emerge, and we adapt to meet the fast-changing needs of the financial services industry and the development sector more broadly.  Accordingly, we are looking to update our identity to better reflect the dynamic nature of our work in an ecosphere of constant change. We have grown from a sector that focused primarily on providing credit through microfinance institutions in the 1970s and 1980s, into financial inclusion in the 1990s and 2000s which foregrounded ensuring that everyone has access to and can use a bank account, toward today’s more comprehensive understanding of the complex and integrated role that financial services can play in advancing opportunities for low-income people.

The branding exercise seeks to strengthen CFI’s individual identity. While we share a common vision with our parent organization, Accion, of a financially inclusive world with access to economic opportunity for all, and wish to preserve the overall cohesiveness of our look, we view CFI’s standing as an independent think tank as a vital attribute, one that enhances and is integral to our brand value, and through our very independence, serves to burnish the reputation and standing of our parent organization.

Scope of Work

Goal

Rebrand the Center for Financial Inclusion with a new name to better reflect its vital role as a hub of innovation at the cutting edge of research and a convener of ideas in the inclusive finance sector;  design a new logo for CFI and for its affiliated asset RFF.

Activities

1. Discovery and strategy

• • Reevaluate our existing audience research, including audience personas and online metrics of digital and media presence, to gain a better understanding of current audience, its perception of and engagement with CFI as a brand, our competitive strengths and weaknesses versus peers in the industry, and our overall brand value.
  • Conduct a landscaping study of existing organizations within the financial inclusion sector and their brand identity, paying special attention to the future directions that are emerging for the inclusive finance industry.
  • Conduct additional audience research, as needed, to better understand our unique value proposition, brand standing and the industry’s outlook.
  • Conduct internal workshops and external surveys to explore brand opportunities.
  • Presentation to CFI leadership on current brand attributes, strengths and weaknesses and target audience perceptions of CFI. Make preliminary recommendations on brand enhancement opportunities.

2. Rebranding

• • Drawing upon findings from the discovery phase, develop ideas in conjunction with CFI leadership and its communications team on new names for the organization. Conduct research on trademark ownership. Develop a short list of names approved by CFI leadership for further exploration.
  • Test short-listed names with potential audiences to ensure they meet CFI’s objectives. Make recommendations with supporting evidence on advantages of the new name.

3. Logo Design

• • CFI Logo:
    • Design a new logo, using the new name and the CFI color palette.
    • Consideration should be given to how the new name and logo will be used in CFI’s sub-brands, Financial Inclusion Week and Inclusive Fintech 50. In addition, the brand expert will coordinate its design with the website designers to ensure the new logo harmonizes with the stylistic direction of the online assets concurrently under development.
    • Present approximately six proposed designs to CFI leadership for consideration, including how the logo would be used with the two sub-brands, receive feedback, and update the designs, for up to three iterations.
  • Responsible Finance Forum Logo:
    • Refresh the logo for the Responsible Finance Forum. While a separate entity, the RFF logo should recognize CFI as the secretariat and convener of the RFF global platform, and should harmonize with CFI’s overall brand identity.
    • Present at least three new designs, receive feedback and update.

4. Value Proposition

• • Based on the audience research conducted for this project, provide strategic advice to the CEO on the brand identity of CFI, its competitive position within the marketplace and how to better present its unique value proposition when engaging with funders and industry stakeholders.

Submission and Evaluation Criteria

Please submit a proposal of no more than 10 pages. The proposal should be divided into three parts: approach, cost and proposed timeline, and qualifications. The following describes what needs to be included in each of the sections.

1. Approach
   • A detailed description of how your agency will help CFI achieve the outlined goals (project summary).
   • A detailed description of the services to be provided including the planned methodology.
2. Cost and Proposed Timeline
   • Detailed proposed timeline for this project with deliverables, including time budgeted for CFI review and response in each phase.
   • Total cost of this project.
   • Your hourly rate, including whether this is a discounted rate for nonprofits. Accion is a tax-exempt 501(c)3.
   • Please state whether there are items or steps we should budget for that you did not see in our project summary.
   • Your availability for starting this work.
3. Qualifications
   • Summary of the firm’s mission, history, number of full-time staff and their location.
   • Project manager and staff who will be assigned to the contract, including short bios and experience with nonprofits, finance and international development institutions.
   • Wider client list, including at least three references with examples of previous branding work.

If you have any inquiries, please contact Rima Patel at rpatel2@accion.org.