8 Important Points to Consider When Branding a Nonprofit

23 Feb ‘19

In: Branding & Visual Design, Marketing, Nonprofit Resources, / By: Ripe Media

When branding a nonprofit organization, it’s critical to consider how donors and volunteers will connect with your concept. Your brand should squarely reflect the vision and direction your organization intends to take both today and in the future. Your primary goal should be to get everyone onboard with your nonprofit’s mission.

Creating a solid brand that resonates with donors is paramount to generating donations. And volunteers need to trust that your nonprofit is having a positive impact on those they are trying to assist. Getting donors and volunteers in alignment can help create a proactive and successful branding strategy.

Here are 8 key points to consider when branding (or re-branding) a nonprofit organization.

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1. Simplicity And Clarity

It is very important to have a simple and clear brand that is easy for your stakeholders to talk about and share your message for you. Often, less is more when it comes to effectively telling your organization’s story. It is far easier to digest a story that has a clear beginning, middle, and end as opposed to one that meanders in many directions. Keep it simple!

2. How Are You Unique?

Many nonprofit organizations place a lot of emphasis on what they think their donors want to see and hear. It is, however, much more important and effective to convey how the organization differs from existing organizations. You should strive to define a brand that genuinely reflects your uniqueness. Donors and constituents will be more likely to “buy in” if they can easily see how you’re differentiated from other nonprofits.

3. Consistency

Every communication piece about the organization must be consistent in relation to your branding. For instance, if you have multiple versions of your mission statement or several different logo and use them inconsistently across Facebook, Twitter, VolunteerMatch, etc,  then your message is not going to have the impact you hope that it will. Unifying both your message and your design are extremely important for both recognition and simplicity.

4. Authenticity and User-Centric Design

The branding for any nonprofit organization can benefit greatly from focusing on user-centric design in order to project a voice and identity that connects with beneficiaries and establishes trust and authenticity. To make sure this facet of your branding works well, analyze general market trends and gather input from customers through surveys, user testing, and focus groups to generate user personas.

5. The Impression

Create your brand right from the start by analyzing what it meansto you, and exactly how you want others to relate to it. How would your organization be discussed if you weren’t there? What impression does it make on your audience after they’ve visited your website or viewed your marketing materials?

6. The Name

Many branding experts advise to begin with the name. Most well-established nonprofits will often have a name that obviously conveys the objective, or it might be a well-known family name. This simplifies things for donors and helps them quickly understand the organization. When considering your nonprofit branding, there are advantages in using a logo design that includes the name and uses a single vivid, positive color to help it stand out. Using simple, modern and classic fonts can help ensure longevity.

7. Consider the Future

When developing your branding, think five, 10 and twenty years beyond, not simply today. Many organizations choose “playful” brands or ones that won’t stand the test of time. When branding non-profit, you want your brand to communicate what you are about, but you also want it to be versatile enough to expand as your organization grows.

8. Values

So much boils down to values, ideals, and beliefs and you need to think about how to express those through your brand. Donors and volunteers strongly relate to certain non-profit organizations because they have confidence in what they stand for and are accomplishing. This needs to be clear in the branding look and messaging.

Psst! Need Branding Help? Let's Chat!

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