Excerpts Series: Branding Your Nonprofit
Let’s begin by talking about the foundation of branding when it comes to nonprofits. Branding or Image Management is controlling how others view you.
Nonprofits, in general, are about mission and impact. No one starts a nonprofit, hmmm, most of the time — there maybe some exceptions— but most of nonprofits start because there’s an unmet need. People have a passion for a cause or they have a passion to do good in community. They have a mission that they develop and they want to make a difference in the community. That’s why 99% of nonprofits form — I see a need, I want to do good, I have a solution and I want to start this new organization to meet that need.
But as many of you probably already know, it is difficult to measure performance and compare apples to apples in the nonprofit sector. If you are a homeless shelter, your work is very different and the way you measure your success or impact is very different than someone who is running a community arts organization. Both do really important work, but it’s hard to measure impact or compare those two types of organizations because the work is very different, even though you’re both nonprofits. This is something to keep in mind. We’ll talk more about the relevance of this difference in our discussion about branding. Even so, we need to know and understand our own nonprofit story.
Here’s why: Decisions about supporting a nonprofit are largely — and this is important — a function of what the public or potential donors or funders think a nonprofit is doing.
Many nonprofits don’t pay as much attention as needed to brand or the whole component of image management. We are busy doing the work. We’re in the field. We’re making a difference and we’re putting all of our energy and time into our programs and services. I get that, but when it comes to people supporting our mission, we have to understand that people who want to support our organization are more interested in what they think we’re doing than what we’re actually doing and that’s how they decide who they support. I don’t love that this is true, but it is true.
“We have to spend some time, as a nonprofit, telling our story, reminding people of the impact that we’re having. We have to spend time on branding and image management because people’s resources — their time, their money, their in-kind donations — are going to go to the organization they think are making a difference. ”
If your organization is making a difference, your job is to convince the public and those who would support you that you are making that difference. We have to sing our song well if we’re going get the support that we need. That’s where image management is very closely tied to resource development — this principal right here:
Decisions about support are largely a function of what the public thinks a nonprofit is doing, far more than what it is actually doing.
We have to let donors, supporters and followers know the impact our organization is making. It might feel icky to talk about what our organization is doing. However, we may be doing fantastic things and if no one knows what we are actually doing, they’re not gonna follow with their support.
That’s the point here. We have to give the energy, time and attention to the image management piece so that we can continue to get the resources we need to be a strong organization.
