For more than a decade, CORENA has quietly helped community organisations reduce emissions through an innovative revolving fund that provides interest-free loans for renewable energy projects. Every loan repaid funds the next project, creating a perpetual cycle of community climate action. Despite the strength of this model and a proven track record, the organisation recognised that its brand no longer reflected the maturity of its work or the scale of its ambition.
Stakeholder research revealed several barriers to growth. While donors and partners trusted CORENA’s work, its unique value proposition—the only provider offering interest-free renewable energy loans through a self-sustaining revolving fund—was largely underplayed. The brand identity felt dated, communications often assumed technical knowledge, and much of the impact was expressed through emissions data rather than human stories. As a result, the organisation risked being overlooked by everyday Australians who wanted to contribute to climate action but didn’t understand how CORENA enabled lasting impact.
With ambitions to increase fundraising, expand its project pipeline and become financially self-sustaining, CORENA needed more than a visual refresh. It needed a strategic brand platform that clearly articulated its unique model, connected with multiple stakeholder groups and inspired broader community participation in climate action.
Repositioning Climate Action as Something Everyone Can Be Part Of
brandkind partnered with CORENA to develop a comprehensive brand strategy that aligned the organisation’s communications with its long-term strategic objectives. Through stakeholder interviews, market analysis and collaborative workshops, we uncovered the gap between how CORENA saw itself and how audiences experienced the brand, creating a strategy that repositioned the organisation around empowerment, measurable impact and practical climate action.
Central to the strategy was a new narrative that shifted the conversation away from climate advocacy and towards community participation. Rather than leading with the climate crisis or technical renewable energy solutions, the messaging focused on a simple but powerful promise: your money works forever. By highlighting the revolving fund model, we transformed a complex financial mechanism into a compelling story of perpetual impact, where one donation continues funding project after project as loans are repaid.
Andrew developed a comprehensive verbal identity that included a refined brand purpose, vision and mission, strategic positioning, audience segmentation, messaging hierarchy, value propositions and communication themes tailored to everyday donors, corporate partners and community organisations. Each audience received messaging that addressed their motivations while reinforcing a consistent brand story centred on tangible impact, transparency, empowerment and collective action.
The strategy also established CORENA’s brand personality and tone of voice. Guided by the Creator and Everyman archetypes, the brand was positioned as practical, collaborative and empowering—building enduring systems that enable everyday Australians to participate in climate action. The tone of voice shifted away from technical, corporate and crisis-driven language towards communication that is clear, optimistic, transparent and action-focused. Rather than positioning CORENA as the hero, every communication celebrates the donors, communities and partners who make change possible together.
To bring the strategy to life, Julia also designed a new logo and visual identity inspired by CORENA’s defining promise that “your money works forever.” The visual language expresses continuity, momentum and renewal, reflecting the perpetual nature of the revolving fund and reinforcing the idea that every contribution creates an ongoing cycle of climate impact. Supported by comprehensive visual identity guidelines, the new identity provides a consistent framework for communications across fundraising, marketing, digital channels and stakeholder engagement, ensuring every touchpoint reinforces CORENA’s long-term vision.
Outcome
CORENA emerged with a cohesive strategic brand platform that clearly communicates its unique place within Australia’s climate sector. The organisation now has a compelling narrative that makes its innovative funding model easy to understand, differentiates it from other climate organisations and creates stronger emotional connections with donors, partners and community organisations alike.
More importantly, the strategy transformed how CORENA tells its story—from explaining renewable energy finance to inspiring everyday Australians to see themselves as active participants in creating lasting climate impact.
