National Churches Trust Rebrand

For over 200 years, the National Churches Trust has been instrumental in keeping the UK’s incredible collection of church buildings well-maintained and in use through providing essential grants. Their mandate to us was clear: to reposition the them as a powerful advocacy charity, not just a grant-maker or visitor-focused organisation, and in their own words, to be ‘less like the National Trust.’

Our initial brand review uncovered a lack of clarity in their existing purpose and vision. By probing their true ambition, we identified that the they strive for open churches to be ‘thriving’ at the heart of their communities.

This insight became the foundation for a new messaging architecture tailored to their three key audiences: policy-makers, supporters, and churches seeking financial aid.

‘Keep churches open’ and ‘Power to the steeple’ messages lead the advocacy angle. ‘Become a heritage hero’ is an invitation to supporters and ‘We’re here for you’ shows churches that we support for them when they need our help.

While the core primary red and logo were outside the scope of the brief, we delivered a powerful visual update to match the new confidence. We designed a bold headline banner and introduced a secondary purple palette to reinforce this strength and ensure visual stand-out.

A new suite of icons was created to quickly communicate the brand’s personality. The refreshed identity was successfully rolled out across crucial touchpoints, including event stands, a quarterly magazine, external banners, advertising and apparel.