Building a Brand-Led Community Program
Turned a single awareness week into a year-round program and tripling fundraising results.
Volunteer, 2017-2026
HAFC is a local Australian Rules football club based in Melbourne. A key pillar of the club is the Wings Mental Health Program which exist to help anyone in the club's community access the help they need without the financial burden.
Role
Creative Direction, Branding, Social Media, Merchandise, Fundraising Events
Challenge
The program had started as an awareness campaign after three members of the club lost their lives to suicide. Increasing awareness made sense in the 2010s when mental health conversations were still relatively new. But as that awareness became more mainstream, it was clear the club needed to go further.
Awareness alone wasn't necessarily translating into real support for the people who needed it.
When I came on board, Wings existed as a single week literally called "Mental Health Round" confining its reach to one week a year. The fund existed but wasn't being used much, and wasn't being topped up consistently.
Approach
I saw an opportunity to turn Wings into a proper year round program, starting with giving it a name, Wings; and visual identity that could be built on throughout the year.
The dedicated round grew to include unique jumpers, off-field merchandise, fundraisers and a goal-a-thon, all to raise money for the fund. Just as much focus went into the rest of the year withweekly player talks, fund access awareness, and trained Wings Ambassadors acting as a first point of contact. I also developed clearer messaging across social media and the clubrooms, under a tight, consistent visual brand that I owned end to end.
Process
The starting point was recognising the fund had far more potential than it was given credit for, since the need for support doesn't switch off outside one week a year.
I developed a distinct brand that still felt connected to HAFC without being just a sub-brand. That led to dedicated sponsors and partnerships with psychologists. In 2025 I introduced the goal-a-thon, partly in response to the existing fundraiser lunch's high overheads, time heavy planning committment and limited accessibility for student players, shifting the model toward lots of smaller donations rather than a few large ones.
Final Design
Deliverables included a standalone visual identity built out across a season long content calendar, sponsor and partnership materials, and a new goal-a-thon fundraising campaign, all supported by ongoing social and clubroom messaging.
Outcome
Channel 9 News Australia - May 2026
The program is now considered a benchmark in the space, regularly cited by the league and other clubs, several of which have gone on to set up similar programs of their own.
The 2025 goal-a-thon alone raised over $4,000, more than tripling what the lunch, sponsorships and other fundraising typically brought in combined. Fund access has also climbed steadily over the past decade which arguably the more meaningful metric, since it means more people are actually using the support available to them.
Fundraising tally YOY
