Forum One was built to leverage digital connections to change the world. As the company enters its twenty-fifth year, we’re excited to share our updated brand that reflects our passion and commitment to turning ideas into impact that truly makes the world a better place.

To dive deeper into our brand process, explore our collaborative, inclusive approach to brand building.

In 1996, Jim Cashel and Dave Witzel were inspired by the opportunities for global connection and collaboration created by the new “World Wide Web.” It was this inspiration that started Forum One.  At the time, Jim was leading the Eurasia Foundation, traveling the former Soviet Union with alligator clips and modems to show civil society leaders how to hack into the internet to connect with the growing democracy movement, and Dave was leading World Bank experiments in publishing environmental research and dialogue on the World Wide Web.

Discussion and search forums (which is where the name “Forum One” comes from), email, and webpages were opening new forms of global communication that no one had ever experienced before. From their work at the Eurasia Foundation and the World Bank, Jim and Dave experienced first-hand how the internet allowed people around the world to connect on common passions and interests—everything from politics to food to global peace. They saw an opportunity to build an organization that used the power of the internet to help the world’s problem solvers and those who sought meaningful, long-lasting, wide-reaching change. 

Forum One was founded to leverage this digital connection and community to change the world.

Connecting people with each other and providing information they need: this is the impact Forum One has always strived to achieve. Our clients’ missions are diverse—across health, education, and the environment—however, they all share the same purpose: to create a lasting positive impact in the world. Our clients are dealing with major challenges. They face competing priorities with different interests across funders and stakeholders, and while they may see how to find solutions to vexing problems, they may not have the capacity to make the solution a reality. That’s where Forum One’s commitment to helping ideas turn into impact comes in.

We help to turn ideas into impact through understanding the challenge and taking a strategic approach to problem-solving. We let the challenge inform the solution, not the other way around. In this work, we are guided by our core values of trust, creativity, and impact.

Forum One’s new brand has the same DNA, but a different look, that helps us strengthen our commitment to making a meaningful impact on the world around us.