This article by Nathalie Kylander (@6kylanders) and Christopher Stone in Stanford Social Innovation Review (@SSIReview) says many nonprofits continue to use their brands primarily as a fundraising tool, but a growing number of nonprofits are developing a broader and more strategic approach, managing their brands to create greater social impact and tighter organizational cohesion.
A decade ago, the dominant brand paradigm in the nonprofit sector focused on communications. Nonprofit executives believed that increased visibility, favorable positioning in relation to competitors, and recognition among target audiences would translate into fundraising success. Branding was a tool for managing the external perceptions of an organization, a subject for the communications, fundraising, and marketing departments.
In contrast, the emerging paradigm sees brand as having a broader and more strategic role in an organization’s core performance, as well as having an internal role in expressing an organization’s purposes, methods, and values. Increasingly, branding is a matter for the entire nonprofit executive team. At every step in an organization’s strategy and at each juncture in its theory of change, a strong brand is increasingly seen as critical in helping to build operational capacity, galvanize support, and maintain focus on the social mission.
The authors propose a framework that allows brands to contribute to sustaining their social impact, serving their mission, and staying true to their organization’s values and culture. They call it the Nonprofit Brand IDEA (in which “IDEA” stands for brand integrity, brand democracy, brand ethics, and brand affinity).
· Brand integrity means that the organization’s internal identity is aligned with its external image and that both are aligned with the mission....
· Brand democracy means that the organization trusts its members, staff, participants, and volunteers to communicate their own understanding of the organization’s core identity....
· Brand ethics means that the brand itself and the way it is deployed reflect the core values of the organization....
· Brand affinity means that the brand is a good team player, working well alongside other brands, sharing space and credit generously, and promoting collective over individual interests....
Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you plan and execute the proper strategy for your brand.
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