This document discusses the importance of nonprofit branding and provides guidance on developing an effective brand. It defines branding as telling your organization's story and experience to audiences through various channels. Great brands have a clear "why" or purpose that addresses an important issue. They also have a distinct personality portrayed through tone of voice, design, and partnerships. An effective nonprofit brand maintains consistency across all platforms and clearly communicates its values and mission.
3. Branding (noun):
Branding for nonprofits is more than just
your logo or name — a lot more. Branding is
telling your story to your audience and
showing why YOU matter. It’s about the
experience and perception your audience
has of your organization online, in-person,
and on paper.
15. Find your “why” – questions to ask
• What keeps you up at night?
• What would the world look like if you had a
magic wand?
• What belief do you share with the rest of
the world?
17. What’s your personality?
Personable and friendly
Spontaneous and high energy
Modern or high tech
Cutting edge
Fun
Accessible to all
Corporate and professional
Careful thinking and planning
Classic and traditional
Established
Serious
Upscale
19. Tone of voice
How would your organization say it?
“You wouldn’t happen to have a pen I could
borrow, would you?”
“Do you have a pen I can borrow?”
“I need a pen. Now.”
“Pass me a pen.”
“Of course I forgot my pen again. Help?”
“Pen please?”
22. This or that:
• Chipolte or Cracker Barrel?
• LeBron James or Meryl Streep?
• Apple or Samsung?
• Delta or JetBlue?
• Red Cross or charity:water?
23. Recap
Your brand needs:
• A clear “why”
• A personality
• Design and tone to match that personality
• Consistency across platforms
• The right people and partners
One of the challenges when talking about branding is it’s a bit of a vague concept. People talk a lot about great brands in the for-profit world, but what are they talking about exactly? Who here wants to share a definition of what they think branding means? (OPEN IT UP TO AUDIENCE)
I like this definition from the Nonprofit Village. Whereas marketing unearths and activates your audience, branding is designed to educate or create certain emotions. It attracts loyal supporters, donors and advocates to your cause. Marketing campaigns come and go, but your brand lasts forever.. While marketing may contribute to your brand and vice versa, the brand is bigger than the marketing campaign. It’s that thing that makes you you, and it’s the feeling that your donors and supporters get when they think of you.
Here are some questions that the branding experts at StayClassy like to ask to help clients think about branding:
How do you feel when you see a good friend’s smiling face? What about your boss’s face?
The idea is that your brand is somewhat like the face of your organization because a good brand will have personality and make you feel something. Well-known marketer Stanley Hainsworth says that you think of your organization’s brand as a person: what do they say? What are their values? How does that person act? What does it sound like? What language does it use?
There’s a lot of noise out there. Your brand is what will keep your community coming back for more. It’s what builds your reputation in the long-run. It’s what makes people think of you when far after you’ve left the room. It leads to more donations, more supporters and more publicity – far after your marketing campaign ends.
Now I’d love to hear from you – what do you think are some of the greatest brands out there? For-profit or non-profit – doesn’t matter. I just want to know what brands you think are memorable and why.
Here are some of the brands I think are awesome. They’re all different, but they’re all effective in making you feel something, building your trust, telling a story and being consistent across platforms.
-stellar design
-inspiring people through data-driven storytelling
-consistency across platforms
-deploy ambassadors that are consistent with the brand
-partnerships that are aligned with the brand
TED is all about learning and making education inspiring and sexy. They do this through the big, bold red logo, the lighting on stage and the copy they use in the ads. They also do it through their partnerships and by making sure that wherever the TED brand goes, the brand guidelines follow – it’s controlled but open. It’s also done through their people, the ones who make TED talks famous and make the format cool.
This is a smaller organization based in Chicago that provides education and support to young women who are at high risk for breast and ovarian cancer. Sure, there’s a lot of pink in there brand, and that’s part of it – but it’s also about creating a lifestyle experience that’s not just about breast cancer, but about being young, fit, fashionable and happy. The tone of Bright Pink content is consistent across the board, and the tone is half sassy/half inspiring. You know what you’re going to get with BrightPink.
The Adventure Project is another great example. From the website to email marketing to social media, the look is always clean, the tone is fun and uplifting and the content is always focused on people, stories and numbers. Just listen to a recent job description posted on their site: “. We’re storytellers - sharing compelling stories with thousands of followers is our bread-and-butter. Social media and branding are essential for us to communicate our mission and mobilize support”
Another is Girls Who Code, a nonprofit that launched a few years back
Now, we’ll talk about
A central part of developing your brand is defining why you do what you do. Uncovering that reason will help guide the way you communicate, the people and partners you work with, the way that you interact on social media, etc.
This is the method from Simon Sinneck that can help you discover your why. It sounds simple, but most companies start with their WHAT when they’re thinking about their brand rather than the WHY. You have to think about the WHY.
Why - This is the core belief of the business. It's why the business exists.
How - This is how the business fulfills that core belief.
What - This is what the company does to fulfill that core belief.
Not Apple. Apple starts with "why." It is the core of their brand. To help illustrate this point, imagine if Apple also started backwards by creating a marketing message that started with "what” and just talked about making computers. That’s not what they did – instead, their why is more along the lines of: “With everything we do, we aim to challenge the status quo. We aim to think differently.”
DOES ANYONE WANT TO SHARE WHAT THEIR ORGANIZATION’S “WHY” IS?
These are just some more questions you can ask yourself to help get to the “why”
Personality is huge and will help drive your design, tone and content. Every brand has a personality, and if you’re in charge of your own brand, it’s crucial to figure out what that personality is, and how to communicate it consistently.
Here’s a quick quiz to help you get closer to defining your brand’s personality. Take a few minutes, write down these words, and think about where you fall on the spectrum.
Defining these brand personality traits means you can apply them consistently in your verbal and visual communication. A clear vision of your brand personality will guide your choice of colors, typography, word and actions.
Look at your sheets and let’s talk about what that means.
A nonprofit that is traditional and established will use classic typefaces that have been around for centuries. Color palettes lean toward conservative, rich hues. The communication style is formal and corporate. This company’s brand image stands the test of time. Because it relies on elements that have been in use for decades, the style will still look fresh five years from now.
A nonprofit that is contemporary and high energy will have colors, typography and a communication style that reflect this. The color palette might be vivid and trendy. The typefaces used have been released in the last ten years. The graphic style is open, airy and asymmetrical. The copywriting voice is friendly and approachable. This nonprofit will likely have to re-make their image more often than the traditional one to stay ahead of visual trends.
A tone of voice both embodies and expresses the brand’s personality and set of values. It’s about the people that make up the brand – the things that drive them, their loves and hates, and what they want to share with the world. Think about one concept or phase that could be said multiple ways and then identify how your organization would say it based on your personality. Do this over and over again to get a clear
This is huge for branding. Thank about how your brand will translate to every aspect of your platforms:
-Events
-Social media channels – Twitter, Instagram, FB, YouTube, etc.
-Content
-Website
-Email campaigns
This builds trust and helps your audience know what they can expect from you.
Check out Love 146, an organization working to end human trafficking.
The most prevalent colors Love146 uses are red and gray or black. This nonprofit brings power and strength to children facing an overwhelmingly dark situation, and this can be seen in their placement of red on a dark background.
Other than their logo and coloring, a defining feature on Love146’s website and social media is the many pictures of children, a constant reminder of the organization’s purpose.
A big part of nonprofits is managing partnerships – with people, companies, other nonprofits. It’s critical to work with the people who share your values and help contribute/fit in with your brand.
-Talk about Girl Rising/Intel and why it made sense for the brand
Below is a list of two options of companies/nonprofits or people that your nonprofit might consider partnering with. Deciding who you work with is critical for keeping on-brand and delivering your supporters a consistent experience. OPEN IT UP TO AUDIENCE – Take a look at this list. Tell us who your nonprofit might partner with and why it would make sense for your brand.