Kalamuna 2020: Year in Review

Are we done yet?

2020 is a hard year to put behind us. Political division, a deadly global outbreak, economic roller coasters, and racial unrest remain top of mind as we round out January 2021. 

This year, our official expansion to Canada was complete offering additional benefits to new and longtime residents there, as well as new opportunities for local impact. And, while our workspace at the Center for Social Innovation was off-limits, in small part thanks to our work with them, the community there is more impactful online than ever.

In some ways, 2020 was business as usual. As a distributed team focused on working with mission-driven organizations, our sleeves are always rolled up. And, there was no shortage of game-changing needed. We were grateful for each other, the resilience of our profession, and the processes and systems we had in place to remain connected, productive, and influential. I’d love to share with you how we tried to make a difference in 2020.

Black Lives Matter

We were greatly affected by the murder of George Floyd. Protest was warranted. Navel-gazing aside, we wanted to take action as an agency.  In 2020, Kalamuna committed $70,000 worth of our time to support Black-led organizations working to subvert aspects of systemic racism. 

The team redesigned BlackRemoteShe – a platform that helps Black queer, trans, and non-binary womxn connect with remote employment opportunities. We also rebuilt a WordPress site for the Black Movement-Law Project to better deliver support and resources to activists navigating the legal system.

“It has been a phenomenal experience collaborating with such an amazing team to create a more user-friendly experience on the site.”

- Jasmine Jacobs Founder @ Black Remote She

Additional engagements are underway with The Anti Police-Terror Project to build a digital monument to the victims of police violence, and with Federation of Black Canadians and the Black Health Alliance to provide data analytics, content and UX audits, and strategic advisory services to help them better use virtual spaces to change the real world. 

Working with these organizations helps us advance a more equitable society, but also broadens the inclusivity of our professional interactions by working directly with a diverse set of inspirational, cause-driven actors.

Celebrating partnerships and social impact 

We’re fortunate to continue to work with so many great client partners year over year. This year, some new relationships blossomed into beautiful collaborations. 

Through a partnership initiative led by the Environmental Defense Fund, we created the Small-Scale Fisheries Resource and Collaboration Hub – a collaboration tool to strengthen governance and community development in fisheries worldwide to achieve sustainable practices in food security and poverty eradication.

Just as schools closed their doors in March, our long-time partners at Rocketship Public Schools sought our help augmenting their website. They wanted to launch a free Distance Learning Resource Hub to serve educators and parents alike. We later collaborated on a separate, grant-funded resource library especially for teachers in October.

We collaborated with the team at the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS) and the Banatao Institute to redesign their WordPress website from the ground up. Their new storytelling platform serves their team as well as their broad and diverse audiences spanning researchers, corporate partners, donors, legislators, students, and more.

“Working with the Kalamuna team was great! I really appreciate the thoughtfulness that went behind all of the decision-making."

- Kat Madrigal Cheng, Interim Communications Director, CITRIS and the Banatao Institute

The year ahead

As mission-driven institutions continue to recognize that the increased power digital has to further their cause is here to stay, expect more great things from Kalamuna in 2021. 

We’re excited to support the global women’s advocacy organization, WEDO. Redesigning Wavelength Music in celebration of its 20th year as an indy music pioneer will be a labor of love. And, as our digital transformation project with Building Changes nears completion, we look forward to experiencing further advances to their equitable responses to housing crises that impact children, youth, and families, with a focus on people of color. 

Also, a new kalamuna.com is in the works, and you can expect more soon about the official formation of Kalamuna Labs – a thought space founded in our long history of R&D  and dedicated to tackling hard problems old and new at scale.

Thanks to you all for everything you do, and for being in this with us.

Most Sincerely,

Andrew Mallis 
CEO @ Kalamuna