Nonprofit Brand Management Tips for Stronger Impact

Did you know that there are over 1.5 million nonprofits in the United States? Unfortunately, nearly two-thirds of the nonprofits don’t get the required funds, and they eventually hit a dead end. Now, the question is – how are other nonprofits successful and accomplish their goals? According to a survey, the best nonprofits leverage the power of digital branding to gather support and grow their organization. This comprehensive guide will take you through nonprofit brand management to take your business to the next level.

1. What Is Nonprofit Brand Management?

Nonprofit brand management is the technique of increasing the organization’s perceived value over time. A solid nonprofit brand strategy differentiates your organization from others and gives a high-quality image to your business. It can help advance nonprofit goals strategically and convert them into monetary support. When your audience feels more connected with your brand, they are more likely to donate regularly. Partner with a nonprofit branding agency to create experiences that connect your audience to your mission and help achieve your goals.

2. What Are the Benefits of Nonprofit Brand Management?

Create Awareness

Nonprofit brand management helps you create awareness about your services and activities. Like any other organisation, nonprofits should also consider themselves a brand and reach a wider audience. Branding ensures like-minded and interested people are aware of your organization’s existence – so they can become long-term supporters, donors or volunteers.

Raise Funds

When done correctly, nonprofit brand management helps raise funds. When more people know about your brand, you will have more chances of finding new donors and raising funds. Besides driving funds, you can also grab the attention of volunteers who can work towards achieving your mission.

Unique Identity

Nonprofit brand management helps you differentiate yourself from your competitors. There might be multiple companies with similar names. It is vital to keep your brand unique and memorable. Additionally, connecting with the right audience that shares your beliefs, values, and ideas becomes more manageable.

Increase Loyalty

The loyalty of your audience increases when your nonprofit organisation is positioned correctly. In addition, a strong brand increases trust and creates a sense of responsibility among supporters and volunteers. All these contribute to the growth of your nonprofit organisation.

3. Tips to Create a Nonprofit Branding Strategy

Know Your Audience

Do you know who opened your emails when you published a post on social media or sent an email blast? Success becomes a gamble if you don’t know who you are reaching out to. Knowing your target audience is the key to driving engagement, as it takes a lot of guesswork from your branding and marketing plan.

Before creating a nonprofit branding strategy, you should know your target audience, their interests and demographics. For many nonprofits, the target audience consists of beneficiaries of the organisation, potential volunteers, and prospective donors. Every nonprofit’s mission is different, and it is impossible to tell who should be your top priority. It depends on your nonprofit’s mission and vision.

For example, if your nonprofit runs an educational campaign for underprivileged students, your target audience might include local school students, parents/guardians of school students, or administrators of schools.

Build Your Nonprofit Brand Guidelines

The primary principles of nonprofit branding are – identity, ethics, values, affinity, and democracy. Many nonprofit organizations use their brand position as a fundraising tool. However, building trust among your supporters and getting the word about your services is essential. Your nonprofit brand should appeal to your audience’s heart and mind. For this, you should focus on being transparent about donations. Here are a few considerations for building nonprofit brand guidelines –

Help your audience understand the cause
Be open about the challenges and obstacles you face
Be honest in your success stories and testimonials
Use attractive pictures to create compelling content
Be consistent across your messaging and visuals

Your goal should be to give your audience measurable proof of your achievements and activities.

Create a Brand Kit

Nonprofit brand management is a way of telling a story about yourself. It often refers to text and visual content that communicates your identity and objectives. Several aspects, such as logo, colors, font, tone, etc., distinguish you from your competitors.

Create a brand kit that incorporates the above aspects to make your nonprofit unique. The following are the considerations for creating a brand kit –

Name is one of the essential elements of the nonprofit brand. With many language considerations and word associations, it is crucial to choose a relevant name.
Your brand’s logo is a symbol or wordmark representing the essence of your mission. It should elicit your objectives and build an emotional connection with your audience.
Typography or font is another critical aspect when creating a brand kit. It substantially impacts the overall brand experience and is vital to clear your important messages to everyone.
The colour palette is another important element of the brand kit that helps you show emotions such as – passion, strength, warmth, and happiness.
The tone of your nonprofit is a tangible expression that makes up your brand’s identity. Having your nonprofit’s personality is crucial for a successful brand strategy.

Using your brand kit in all your documents, brochures, flyers, and other marketing collaterals is a good idea.

Use Storytelling

If you are a nonprofit marketer, you might already know how challenging it is to convince donors. Nonprofit storytelling helps you reach your goals, deepen your connections, and convince your target audience to support the cause or donate. With storytelling, you can activate empathy and help them build rapport with your organization.

You need to be clear about what your goals are. Some common goals include – raising XXX’s donation, growing membership, building trust, and so on. Stories also make the donors feel empathetic and encourage them to donate. To create an impactful story, you must use – emotional vocabulary, sensory details, and a central character.

Storytelling is about building connections and making your audience feel emotionally connected to your brand. You can create different types of stories and check the impact on donors.

Invest in Community Outreach

As a part of nonprofit brand management, you must become an active member of the local community. It helps you increase recognition and meet people interested in your activities. According to the Urban Institute, 23.5% of volunteers in an organization are from local areas and makeup plenty of local funding.

Nonprofits can stretch their budget using various community outreach programs, including – social media marketing, sponsorships, donations, and other activities to spread the word. You can also partner with your local groups to build brand loyalty.

Take advantage of social media platforms like – Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc., to localize your activities. For example, hold a day with freebies for journalists and local reporters and take them through your social media pages.

4. Inspirational Nonprofit Brand Management Examples

North York Women’s Shelter

North York Women’s Shelter is a nonprofit organisation in the Greater Toronto Area that works for the welfare of women. It aims to support women by providing emergency shelter. This nonprofit used bright and encouraging color schema, exciting illustrations, and a robust advocacy voice to create an optimistic brand.

CoachArt

CoachArt is a nonprofit in Los Angeles that aims to bring fun into the lives of chronically ill children. With an effective nonprofit brand management strategy, they took a modernized and human-centric approach to thrive in the digital landscape. They created a logo with a simple font separated by a heart. Their primary brand colors are orange and red, reminding us of the profound services they offer.

Link

Liberty in North Korea (LINK) is a nonprofit humanitarian organization working towards the support of people in Korea. They have a simple and uniquely identifiable logo with eye-catching red color that creates a sense of urgency. It also emphasizes BOLD font to grasp the audience’s attention and raise awareness.

5. FAQS

What Is Nonprofit Organization Branding?

Nonprofit branding is how an organization communicates who they are and how they work. It not only signifies the organization but tells your story to others.

How Do Nonprofit Organizations Build Brands?

Nonprofit organizations can build brands by reaching out to target audiences, focusing on their mission/vision, creating a brand kit, and applying it to their business.

How Do Nonprofits Increase Brand Awareness?

Nonprofits can increase their brand awareness by giving their organisation a fun, unique identity. Also, they can engage with groups on social media and leverage the power of digital marketing to boost their brand value and recognition.

Why Is Branding Important for a Nonprofit?

Branding is vital for nonprofits to gain trust and create loyal customers. Likewise, businesses must set themselves apart from their competitors and build financial value.

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