CASE STUDY
From inherited perceptions
to a brand built for trust.
From the start, Dogwood Health Trust carried the history of a health system and the sale that enabled its creation – and with it, community confusion about what came next. Formation helped the foundation understand those brand perceptions and turn them into a distinct, credible brand.
Client
Dogwood Health Trust
Investing in a healthier Western North Carolina.
Dogwood Health Trust is a $1.5 billion private foundation created in 2019 with proceeds from the sale of Mission Health, a regional nonprofit health system, to HCA Healthcare.
This place-based foundation invests in areas impacting the social determinants of health across Western North Carolina, including housing, education, economic opportunity, and health and wellness.
A new foundation carrying an inherited story.
Dogwood was new, but it did not begin with a blank slate. Its launch drew strong and varied opinions, and its original logo closely resembled that of Mission Health. For communities and grantees still making sense of the transition, the distinction between the two organizations was unclear.
Dogwood needed more than a new logo. It needed a brand identity that could distinguish its future from its history without ignoring the context that shaped both.
Before brand development, we needed to understand the context.
Developing a strong brand requires understanding your history, context and perceptions. Before Formation could define how Dogwood should show up, we needed to understand how it was already understood. That meant listening beyond leadership and treating community perceptions not as a branding obstacle, but as essential input.
Turning research into a brand identity people could understand.
Formation immersed itself in Dogwood as an organization, a grantmaker and a health conversion foundation. Through interviews with key influencers, grantee and community surveys, a communications audit, a landscape study and a review of Dogwood’s strategic plan, we uncovered what people understood, where confusion remained and what the new brand needed to communicate.
We translated that research into one connected brand system: a narrative and positioning that clarified Dogwood’s role, messaging and talking points that gave the team a shared language and a visual identity that distinguished the foundation from the health system it came from. Regular collaboration with Dogwood’s team kept strategic and creative decisions aligned throughout the process.
A clearer brand identity. A measurable shift in perception.
One year after the new brand launched, positive brand perception had increased by 10%.
Dogwood also gained a brand its team could manage consistently and that would evolve over time along with the foundation. With a clearer story, a distinct identity and a shared language, Dogwood arrives in the community as an approachable, innovative and trusted partner.
Dr. Susan R. Mims CEO, Dogwood Health Trust
Is your organization entering a new chapter?
When your organization is navigating a transition or changing how it is understood, how you communicate can shape what comes next. Formation can help you build the brand clarity, alignment and trust to move forward.