We help turn conviction into momentum for the visionary givers taking on the toughest problems, whether it’s preserving democracy or curing cancer. We give their ambition a form that people can see, trust, and act on. Our partners range from the world's largest grantmakers, like the Gates Foundation, to first-generation funders like Waverley Street Foundation.
Whether for a rising giver or an era-defining philanthropist, a foundation's website has many complex jobs at once. It has to explain a giving philosophy to grantees, draw the top talent, publish research that holds up to expert scrutiny, and make the case for a mission to the public. A one-size-fits-all platform can't serve audiences that different. Our journalistic roots suit the problem: we treat a foundation's knowledge as a publication, and the shape of that publication changes with the giver and evolves with its audience. A family foundation needs to carry its legacy while staying legible to the people it serves today. A climate funder working against the clock has to marshal urgency without flattening the science.
Underneath all of it is the same problem. The sector is rich with rigor and short on narrative, and field-defining strategy often stays buried in a PDF annual report. We see this as a design problem as much as a communications problem. When a foundation's identity and digital presence are as considered as its grantmaking, partners lean in, money moves faster, and the work compounds.
Emerson Collective Climate Science Fair: Emerson Collective asked us to design the look of an optimistic Climate Science Fair on New York’s High Line. The work had to make serious climate science feel like an invitation rather than a warning, across signage, posters, and digital, for an audience walking by.
Earth Alliance: For Earth Alliance, we built a platform for changing the climate narrative, designed to give a funder-backed media operation the editorial credibility of an independent newsroom, with the publishing tools to match
Waverley Street Foundation: Laurene Powell Jobs’ climate philanthropy came to us as a first-generation fund that needed an identity before it had a track record. We built Waverley Street a brand designed to spark joy in a sector that usually leads with dread.
Coefficient Giving: When Open Philanthropy became Coefficient Giving, we relaunched the brand and website for one of the world's most rigorous philanthropic funders. The relaunch had to carry a decade of Open Philanthropy’s credibility into a new name and reposition the funder as a multi-donor platform, with 13 cause-specific funds that other philanthropists can join.
Case studies coming soon
Simons Foundation Working to advance the frontiers of research in mathematics and the basic sciences.
Arnold Ventures An organization working to drive evidence-based policy solutions that maximize opportunity and minimize injustice for all Americans.
Gates Foundation The world's largest private foundation, working to give away $200 billion by 2045 in areas where breakthroughs and strong systems can change the trajectory of millions of lives.
Services
Brand & Identity
Positioning, naming, and design systems that solve problems
CMS
Custom content management built to empower teams
Content strategy
Frameworks to surface and share content impactfully
AI Enablement
Digital structure for meaningful LLM discoverability
For
Family foundations
Venture philanthropy
Effective altruism
Climate philanthropy
Frequently Asked Questions
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Upstatement partners with visionary givers like the Gates Foundation and Laurene Powell Jobs to develop brands and platforms for the most ambitious philanthropy. We’ve worked with legacy family foundations, newly-minted IPO philanthropists, effective altruists, and venture philanthropists. Their target areas range from childhood health to climate to democracy.
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Upstatement creates brand identities, strategy, messaging, tools, and large-scale websites for funders whose sites must serve grantees, researchers, journalists, prospective talent, and the public at once.
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Our journalistic roots suit the problem. Upstatement is adept at surfacing the strategy and vision that’s generally buried in an annual report and turning it into a living platform that can galvanize the public, present research, and explain a philosophy to grantees, all at once. The same platform does quiet recruiting work, showing prospective staff an organization worth joining.
