Language
Voice and Tone
Everyday TrustBridge is working with real people and communities, extremely valuable assets, and a movement that is bigger than all of us. All of this requires more than just trust to engage with. One of the biggest ways we can cultivate confidence, reliability, AND trust is through our voice and tone as a brand.
Our brand’s voice is confident and compassionate.
We are hopeful and excited about the ways we can cultivate more generosity through those we meet, but we take the time to listen and build relationship with each person and team that we come across.
This might sound like:
If you’ve ever tried to give or receive funds internationally, you know how frustrating it can be. We understand the challenges and are here to help.
This would not sound like:
Unsophisticated donors try to make international gifts alone and risk loss of their gifts and even imprisonment. Don’t try giving internationally without us.
Our brand’s tone is relational and straightforward.
Our brand’s voice remains consistent, but because of the variety of ways we make global giving easy, our “tone” may change. Nevertheless, we remain relational with each person and always strive to make things as simple as possible to both do and understand.
This might sound like:
Your charitable grants are important to you and the charities you support, that’s why we aim to make global giving easy.
This would not sound like:
Transactions are an essential element of grantee and grantor exchanges in every philanthropic grant-making program. TrustBridge conveys benefits to both parties of the transaction yielding uninterrupted disbursements.
Brand Words and Phrases
These words collectively mark the idea of the brand that TrustBridge Global represents. When people here about us, we want them to immediately associate us with one of these terms.
- Generosity
- Global
- Trust
- Giving
- Impact
Personality Guardrails
Our brand’s personality comes across in all written content, videos, and graphics. Imagine if you were to meet the incarnation of TrustBridge Global at an event, what would her/his personality be like?
🤪__________________________________😐
Funny Neutral Serious
Casual Neutral Formal
Irreverent Neutral Respectful
Enthusiastic Neutral Matter-of-fact
Spelling Standards
Our brand has adopted American English for written communications. However, colloquial expressions should always be avoided. English terms and phrases as used by the majority of English speakers world-wide should be adopted so that (as much as possible) American English and British English speakers should have comfort with terminology being used.
Word Choices and Expressions
Using consistent spellings and phrasings of key terms in our industry we demonstrate consistency and mastery of our content. This builds trust, a key element of our brand.
✅ YES ✅
TrustBridge
TrustBridge Global Foundation
donor
Charity Fund
Foundation Fund
donor-advised fund
grantmaking
contribution
Fund (as a proper noun)
SFr
international grants
TrustBridge Global Network
Network Member
currency exchange rate
nonprofit organization
Log In, LOG IN
News
TrustBridge
administrative assessments
giving solutions
annual verification
GivingSpace
U.S. and U.K.
❌ NO ❌
Trustbridge
TrustBridge global foundation
giver
charity fund
foundation fund or DAF
donor advised fund
grant-making
gift
fund (as a proper noun)
Sfr
cross-border grants
TrustBridge Global Member Network
network member
foreign exchange rate
non-profit organization
Sign In, Login, LOGIN
Blog
TB or TGF or TBGF
fees
products, services
renewal fee, annual certification
giving space, Giving Space
US or UK
✅ YES ✅ ❌ NO ❌
airplane aeroplane
center centre
color colour
defense defence
dialog dialogue
dialed dialled
enroll enrol
equaled equalled
esthetic aesthetic
favor favour
fiber fibre
fueling fuelling
fulfill fulfil
gage guage
gray grey
grueling gruelling
humor humour
installment instalment
kilometer kilometre
labeling labelling
labor labour
leveling levelling
liter litre
marvelous marvellous
meter metre
mobilize mobilise
neighbor neighbour
offense offence
✅ YES ✅ ❌ NO ❌
organization organisation
practice practise
prolog prologue
redialing redialling
refueling refuelling
relabeling relabelling
rigor rigour
skeptic sceptic
signaled signalled
skillful skilful
specialty speciality
tire tyre (noun)
totaling totalling
traveler traveller
traveling travelling
unequaled unequalled
unrivaled unrivalled
vapor vapour
vigor vigour
Translation Guidance for Languages
Spanish Language Guide (coming soon)
French Language Guide (coming soon)
Currency Usage: CHF vs. SFr.
Our communications balance international precision with local familiarity. To achieve consistency across all touchpoints, we apply the following norms when referencing Swiss francs:
- Financial Data, Infographics, and Reporting
- Always use CHF when presenting numbers in:
- Financial statements
- Charts, graphs, and infographics
- Tables, appendices, and audited materials
- Why: CHF is the ISO 4217 currency code. It conveys authority, aligns with international standards, and ensures clarity for global audiences.
- Prose, Marketing, and Consumer-Facing Materials
- Use SFr. in narrative text, marketing brochures, donor-facing content, and other communications where tone and approachability matter.
- Why: SFr. is familiar to Swiss consumers and reads more naturally in everyday language. It reinforces accessibility and relatability.
- Rule of Thumb
- CHF = numbers, data, international
- SFr. = words, narrative, local/consumer
- Examples
- Correct (Financial Chart): “Total disbursements: CHF 2.5 million”
- Correct (Marketing Prose): “We supported over 300 families with more than SFr. 250,000 in assistance.”