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• – Increased public recognition… of ecological issues
• – Build emotional connection… with their members and the public
• – Express a clear value system… to the public regarding nature
• – Create a sense of community… increase organizational membership/involvement

WWF’s use of imagery stretches beyond any single visual style, color palette, or tone. While the WWF brand is filled with startling imagery, many of their images highlight the simple beauty of nature. What makes WWF a leader in non profit branding is not adherence to a graphic design style so much as their adherence to their mission and branding goals. Every image is very clearly in alignment with their goal. In this sense, their mission is their brand.

By now it should be clear that brand should be defined broadly. A brand is more than a visual identity: a logo, branded cup, or graphic design used by an organization. A brand is a psychological construct in the minds of those who are aware of the organization. Or to say it more clearly: brand is how people feel about the company.

One of the least talked about goals of branding is the creation of community. The most successful brands have community as a centerpiece of their strategy. Apple computer owners are zealous about their product. Nike-wear owners pay extra to have the logo emblazoned on their chest so everyone understands what company team they play for. Starbucks creates micro communities in every café, complete with their own language for beverages. You don’t order a large coffee, you order a Grande.

A brand community is a group of people formed on the basis of attachment to a product or service. It stresses the connection between brand, individual identity, and culture. It also leverages social marketing techniques that motivates behavior change through highlighting positive social norms. A sense of community is vital to non profits.

Flash Tip: Instead of a simple “Thank You!” on your donation receipt page, show them the community they’ve joined.

Non profit organizations often view communities as a service area. Everyone benefits from clean air, for example, so everyone who breathes that air is part of a community in their minds. But engagement strategies need to be targeted to be effective, and in reality this create sub communities. The air that donors breathe is one sub community; volunteers may be another sub community. Brand helps to unify all of these sub communities under a single umbrella of identity. Nike targets runners, and basketball players, and golfers, and bikers, and brings them under the tent of “Nike.” But they create individual campaigns for ball players, golfers, and bikers.

“Brand becomes critical when you’re seeking to create partnerships, when you’re seeking other funders, and when you’re looking to associate yourself with people in the field,” explains Diane Fusilli, a global brand consultant and former communications director at the Rockefeller Foundation. “A strong brand helps bring greater credibility and trust to a project quicker, and acts as a catalyst for people to want to come to the table.”

Branding improves mission focus

“Culture eats strategy for breakfast” – Peter Drucker (ish)

Peter Drucker was one of the most respected business consultants in the world, and while he didn’t actually say, “culture eats strategy for breakfast” (he said, “culture beats strategy) the idea is the same. In the real world, your organization’s culture will drive its decisions and growth more than whatever strategy you put on paper. Branding is an opportunity to create culture in a thoughtful manner, rather than haphazardly.

Hurricane Images Inc -Shiny Soap

Mission statements are a useful tool for focusing an organization’s priorities, and are essential for many grant applications. However, they’re limited in their ability create company culture, which affects an organization’s internal cohesion, the ability to attract and sustain volunteers, and staff morale. Mission statements tend to be devoid of emotion, energy, excitement… feeling. Take a look at a couple of mission statements by major corporations, and try and guess who wrote them:

“The mission of ___ is dedication to the highest quality of customer service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and company spirit.”

It’s hard to believe this vague, lifeless mission statement belongs to one of the most successful—and quirky—airlines in the world: Southwest. Even more difficult to believe is that it likely cost tens of thousands of dollars to create. In the end, warmth, friendliness, and pride are generic terms could apply to any business.

“Our mission is to give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together. People use ____ to stay connected with friends and family, to discover what’s going on in the world, and to share and express what matters to them.”

This statement is more easily recognized as Facebook’s, but only because it’s so long and so detailed. Facebook is one of the best known companies in the world, and yet their mission statement is neither internal nor external facing. If an employee tried to recite this to you in an elevator, you’d probably exit before your floor.

In 2014, Southwest underwent a complete brand overhaul. They decided that their unique positioning was a focus on people. That decision wasn’t entirely arbitrary—the airline had already built a reputation for quirky and personal safety announcements, casual boarding, simple pricing, and avoiding the rat race. The brand agency, Lippincott designed Southwest’s logo, a tri-colored heart, and chose a new, bright palette for the company (with just a hint of Southwestern hues). And they created posters that emphasizing the people of Southwest. They cross-trained their staff (at one point having pilots service the front desk), and encouraged playfulness over professional objectivity. In the end, customers just felt better about flying with them. And profits grew by 124%.

In a very real sense, brand does what your Mission Statement was supposed to do, which is inspire, motivate, attract, and build community. Nike is one of the most prominent brands in the world. The feel of their brand is high energy, and it is expressed in everything from the “Woosh” of their logo to the athletes pounding the courts. High energy is an appropriate feel for a sportswear company, but it can equally apply to saving endangered species, dance, or education. And while “dedication to the highest quality customer service” does little to attract volunteers, being part of a quirky, fun, casual, and friendly organization is magnetic. When non profits craft their mission statements, they often eliminate adjectives in an effort to be concise, yet adjectives provide much of the emotional impact of a statement. The solution is not to re-infuse our mission statements with adjectives, but to create a multifaceted brand.

Branding deepens employees’ connection to the organization

Finding the right people — people with the desired mix of skills, values, and personalities — is a never-ending challenge for many nonprofits. People who feel passionate about an organization’s work are more likely to share that enthusiasm with others. This creates a magnetic force that keeps teams together for longer, increasing continuity, cohesion, and performance. A strong brand can make staff feel more connected to the values, attitudes, beliefs your organizations stands for.

The process of creating a brand is a deep dive. It can take more time and resources than creating a five-year strategic plan. But increasingly, non-profits are realizing that their brand is more useful than their plan.

Most organizations need help in creating a powerful, effective brand. There are so many layers to how brand is identified and expressed, that brand creation is a discipline unto itself. (Unfortunately, many marketing agencies that claim branding as their expertise only focus on narrow visual components of brand—things like logos and color schemes). It’s not something that has to be tackled all at once, but the benefits of a systematic approach are tremendous.