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White Paper: Branding the Nonprofit

May 2001
branding

Perception that branding is for corporations only is changing rapidly as not-for-profits realize the impact successful branding can have on their fundraising and awareness efforts. This White Paper attempts to bring out some of the positives of branding for nonprofits— and the negatives, too. We’ll begin by identifying what a brand is (using some high-visibility examples from the for-profit world). Then we’ll go on to discuss what your nonprofit can learn from them and how critical these lessons are, particularly when you don’t have millions of dollars to invest in branding.

What is a brand?

Brands are ‘a singular idea or concept that you own inside the mind of a prospect’¹. Branding is the process that gets you there. But what does it mean to ‘own’ a concept in someone’s mind? Basically, it means that they associate you (or your organization) with that idea and think of you when it comes up. The most obvious examples are found with big companies that have invested heavily in branding. Who do you think of when you want a sweet, cool, carbonated drink? Probably Coca-Cola. When you want fast food? Probably McDonald’s. These companies ‘own’ the concepts of cola and fast food in many people’s minds.

Good brands are heavily strategized. The context surrounding them and their own ability to be marketed are analyzed and positions developed before they are put into action. It’s no accident that Coca-Cola ‘owns’ the cola category in your mind: they have charted a course and aggressively pursued it in order to get there.

How brands go beyond strategy and are put into action

At its most basic, branding involves language (what you call yourself, and what category you are operating in, for example) and design elements (such as a logo, colors, or typefaces) used consistently throughout all materials. If you can picture Coke and McDonald’s, chances are you also remember what colors they usually use. You may even remember the style or feeling of the typeface they use in their logo or on their materials, and the tone of the language they use when they talk to you (via ads, web or print communications). You may even think of Coke as “the Real Thing”— a campaign that helped them assert and reinforce their leadership in the cola category.

Well-crafted brands are multidimensional. Over repeated points of contact (seeing print or TV ads or trying the product, for example) an impression is formed about how the brand looks, acts, and feels. Most effective brands are carefully crafted (by ‘brand stewards’) to appeal to a targeted audience. Apple’s iMac, for example, is a brand developed for an audience that perceives itself as non-traditional. Would their ‘think different’ ad campaign make sense to an octogenarian bureaucrat? Probably not.

How not-for-profit brands are different

Branding is even more important for nonprofits since they rarely have funds to spend on the high visibility advertising for-profits often use. (It probably won’t surprise you to learn that Nike has spent approximately 1 billion dollars to associate their name with the “swoosh” graphic over the past 10 years). And still, nonprofits have to be competitive— especially with other organizations who may be tapping similar sources for funding.

Because organizations are more likely to be ‘belief driven’, staff or board members may lose sight of the fact that not everyone is as aware of and invested in their organizations as they are. They may find it hard to understand why the organization should invest in educating its target audiences about the cause and their good work in it. We hear countless stories of small organizations who ask major celebrities to champion their cause and are surprised when they are refused. Is it that the cause is unworthy? Usually not. More likely, the celebrity just doesn’t know enough about the cause or the organization to want to be associated with it. That process of education takes time and (some) money.

This can also hold true in fundraising. Let’s say, for example, a solicitation is mailed. The organization eagerly waits for the dollars to roll in and is disappointed when the return seems small. Of course this same situation could occur in the for-profit world, if a businessperson miscalculates the value of their product or service in a marketplace. At first glance, these may not appear to be branding problems, but they easily can be.

Branding ‘pre-sells’ or educates audiences about your organization— it opens the doors first so you can more easily walk through. Do you think organizations like the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research gets turned down by celebrities or donors as often as yours might? Probably not, because that organization owns the concept of curing Parkinson’s through the leveraging of a high-visibility celebrity. Michael J. Fox has become the brand and that equity is transferred to his foundation.

Brand policing

It’s not easy to maintain a brand— especially as you grow, or as time marches on and staff turns over. Someone has to put energy and time (and often money) towards details like making sure that the right logo, colors and language are used in the right places.

Many big organizations woke up to this idea of constancy long ago— the American Red Cross or the World Wildlife Fund, for example. They realized that the easier they make it for different constituents to identify them, the more likely people will be to remember them, take action on their behalf, or give them money. Brand building is a process of establishing trust and recognition. Brand policing keeps those doors open by making sure the wrong messages are contained and the right messages— the ones that uphold those ideas we established earlier in the target audience’s mind— are supported.

How nonprofit branding works: an example

Let’s say Fred (a fictitious character) gets invited to a fundraising dinner by a friend. He gets the invitation (1st point of contact with the organization), responds and attends. At the dinner, the Executive Director and other key players speak (2nd point of contact). A brochure is on hand in case he wants to find out more about the organization (3rd). After the event, Fred feels happy he’s supported his friend’s cause, and goes home— thinking perhaps about his job, his upcoming oral surgery, the organization he’s personally involved with— who knows what. Unless something has made an unusually large impression, the event (and the organization behind it) is likely to begin fading from his consciousness fast.

But hopefully the organization hasn’t forgotten about Fred. His name has been added to their database. Fred’s friend sends him a note thanking him for attending (4th). Then organization sends him a letter (5th) acknowledging his tax-deductible contribution and participation.

A month goes by. Fred’s been promoted: he’s now a VP and has new responsibilities to contend with. His oral surgery is over. He’s bought a new Mercedes. He’s also been the recipient of approximately 90,000 marketing messages², many of which came from nonprofits. The organization’s direct mail campaign arrives at his doorstep. This piece will be his 6th direct point of contact with the organization.

What will make Fred open it? If it looks just like all the other direct mail he gets he’s (statistically) not likely to. But if, during those other five points of contact, he’s consistently heard the same message and seen the same colors and logo, he’s more likely to identify them on the direct mail envelope. Better yet, if the organization has done a good job and he’s an appropriate target, he’ll smile when he sees it and open it with a positive attitude. They will own space in his mind: he’s now associating them with a concept that’s bigger than any one event or piece of direct mail. He’s associating them with a larger concept (hopefully their cause), and sees them as an organization with whom he has a relationship.

How to get started

Here are a few guidelines to help you get started down the branding path:

1. Start the process by looking at the organization’s mission and values. The brand must accurately reflect them. If not, target audiences will quickly pick up on the discrepancy between how the organization positions itself and what they really are and trust will be destroyed.


2. Establish who is in charge of the brand. This is often a director of communications, but may be the executive director or another staffer.This is the person who will coordinate all branding efforts and police the brand, so they should be someone with seniority who is likely to stay at the organization for awhile.


3. Get key staff involved and educated about branding. Branding only works if it’s a top-down process: senior staff and board members have to be behind it and invested in its success. If they aren’t, it will be impossible for the development or communications people to be.


4. Develop a brand position. This is something that requires a fairly high degree of marketing expertise; ideally someone with branding and not-for-profit experience. This is likely to be something your organization needs to outsource.


5. Set up a strategy for how the brand will be implemented. This usually involves a marketing and communications plan tailor-made for the organization, that includes a detailed strategy for developing future materials.


6. Implement the brand by developing the right support pieces and using them correctly.Your marketing and communications plan should give you the guidelines to do this.


7. Police your brand. As events, direct mail campaigns, web site updates and other variable elements emerge, make sure your brand is policed correctly so that the wrong messages don’t sneak out accidentally. A system which requires the organization’s vendors and junior staffers to get sign-off from the person in charge of the brand can help enormously.

Developing a new brand or refining an old one is a complicated process; it requires the right expertise and some time to learn to do well. How much? This depends on the organization, and how ready it is for a branding process. But since this is a process that will effect the organization deeply, rushing is never a good idea.

© 2003 Big Duck. All rights reserved. No part of this case study may be copied, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in each case in any form or by any means, without prior permission from Big Duck.