Case Study: Reaching Out to Those in Need

Indus Community Services (formerly India Rainbow Community Services of Peel) is a non-profit organization that was founded by the Indo–Canadian community with the goal of helping new South Asian immigrants overcome their settlement challenges. With growing community support, they wanted to expand their network to serve more people. In their initial efforts, they realized that the brand’s deep cultural connection and emotional value for the South Asian community, had become a barrier to growth to priority groups from other backgrounds.

They turned to BTI to help them evaluate their strategy and identify the best way to reach a wider range of audiences.

The original organization name could be interpreted as misleading. “India” led to perceptions about only serving immigrants from India and “Rainbow” being closely associated with the 2SLGBTQ+ community. BTI identified the opportunity to look at their name with a DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) lens and make some changes to ensure everyone who could benefit from their services was represented.

The goal was to identify a new name that had universal acceptance, but maintained the organization’s South Asian history. To reach the new name BTI’s process included in-depth focus group discussions with all stakeholders, including clients, members and agency partners, to ensure all cultural and religious viewpoints and sensitivities were considered.