Internet Society Foundation

Building a sibling brand that’s distinct enough to stand alone but connected enough to belong

The Situation

In 2019, the Internet Society established the Internet Society Foundation, a philanthropic entity created to extend ISOC's mission through grant-making and fundraising, investing in organizations and individuals dedicated to an open, secure, and trustworthy Internet.

The Foundation needed a brand, but it needed to be nuanced. We had to create an identity for a new organization that needed to feel distinct from its parent, credible to donors and grantees, and yet unmistakably part of the same family.

The Challenge

The central strategic question was brand architecture. How should the Foundation sit alongside ISOC? Too close, and it would feel like a sub-department rather than a standalone philanthropic entity. Too distant, and it would lose the credibility and recognition that came with the ISOC name and reputation.

The answer we arrived at was a branded house approach: two distinct identities that complemented each other, similar enough to signal shared values and origin, different enough to own their own space.

My Approach

I was one of the key internal stakeholders on this project, working again with Moving Brands at a significantly smaller scale than the original ISOC rebrand. Rather than the broad community buy-in process that had characterized the 2015 work, this was a more focused engagement: a smaller team, a clearer brief, and a faster path to decisions.

My role was to bring both strategic judgment and institutional knowledge to the table. Having built and stewarded the ISOC brand for several years, I understood its strengths, its flexibility, and its limits and was able to apply that expertise directly to the decisions being made about how the Foundation brand should relate to it.

Because ISOC's brand system was already robust, we didn't need to build from scratch. The tone of voice, photography philosophy, and brand values carried over. The focused work was on the visual identity: the logo and the graphic language that would give the Foundation its own distinct character.

The Work

• Brand architecture: Defined the strategic relationship between the two brands, establishing the branded house model and the principles that would guide how the identities coexisted and complemented each other.

• Logo and visual identity: Developed a visual identity for the Foundation that shared DNA with ISOC while feeling more contemporary and philanthropically oriented. The result was modern and warm — suited to donor relationships and grant-making — while remaining recognizably part of the same family.

• Brand guidelines: Documented the Foundation's brand system, building on ISOC's existing framework and extending it to cover the Foundation's specific needs and contexts.

• Website: Applied the new brand to the Foundation's web presence, establishing a digital home that reflected its distinct identity and philanthropic purpose.

The Outcome

The Foundation's brand landed well. Leadership and staff responded positively to the designs. The Foundation's more contemporary visual identity generated a degree of admiration among ISOC staff who saw it as a fresher take on the shared brand family.