nonprofit branding Archives ⋆ Hands-On Fundraising

Why aren’t nonprofits getting the recognition they deserve?

Attention, please!

When you work at a nonprofit, long hours and tons of responsibility go with the territory.

It’s not about making money or getting accolades; it’s about creating an impact.

You’re working hard, you’re making a difference. But your friends, family, and sometimes even colleagues don’t have a clear idea of what you do. They certainly don’t understand how much you’re pouring into your cause.

Does any of that sound familiar?

As the owner of a marketing agency that helps nonprofits eliminate confusion through clear messaging, I have had the opportunity to work with a wide range of organizations. I’m always impressed by the dedication and passion of the people working in the nonprofit sector. But I have also noticed that they often struggle to gain the recognition and support they deserve in their communities.

Challenges facing nonprofits

One of the primary challenges that nonprofits face when it comes to marketing is limited resources.

Tight budgets

Many nonprofits operate on tight budgets, which means they have less money to devote to marketing and advertising efforts. This can make it difficult for them to get their message out and attract the attention of potential donors, funders, and volunteers.

Competition from the for-profit world

Competing with for-profit businesses for attention and resources is another major challenge for nonprofits. In a world where businesses are constantly vying for consumer attention, nonprofits can get lost in the noise. This is especially true when it comes to fundraising efforts. Donors and sponsors have limited funds, which for-profits will try to capture as much as possible.

Making matters worse, these are just the concerns that affect all organizations, including small businesses. Nonprofits face an uphill battle with their own unique challenges.

Balancing mission and marketing

For example, nonprofits must also strike a balance between mission-driven messaging and the desire to attract support. It can be difficult to effectively communicate the importance of your work and the impact you are having on your community while also making an emotional appeal to potential donors.

Another factor that can hold your nonprofit back from gaining the recognition you deserve is a failure to self-promote. If you work in the nonprofit sector, you are likely deeply committed to your cause and are driven by a desire to make a positive impact in the world. However, you may not be as comfortable with the idea of self-promotion as someone in a for-profit business. You may even feel that it is not in line with your values or mission.

This reluctance to self-promote can be a self-imposed struggle for nonprofits. It can prevent you from effectively communicating the value of your work and the impact you are having. While it is important to be humble and modest, it is also okay to take credit for the good work that your nonprofit does and to share your successes with others. By promoting your work, you can inspire others to get involved and support your efforts.

Share your successes and the credit

Sharing your success stories helps build trust because it allows people to see the impact that your organization is making. When people see that a nonprofit is achieving its goals and making a difference in the world, they are more likely to trust the organization and feel confident in supporting it. This is especially true when you are transparent about your work. Share specific examples of the positive impact you are having.

By sharing your successes, you let people see the good work that you’re doing. In turn, they may be more motivated to volunteer their time, donate money, or advocate for your cause. But share the credit as well. Supporters are part of your work! This can help to build a sense of community and support around your organization, which can be crucial for its long-term health.

Build trust to inspire support

Ultimately, sharing your success is about more than just promoting your work. It’s about building trust and connection with your supporters and the broader community. By being open about your achievements, you can inspire others to join you in your mission and work together to make a positive difference in the world. So, it’s always a good idea for nonprofits to share their successes and build trust with their supporters.

You need to strike a balance between being humble and being proud of your accomplishments. You do that by sharing the credit: your supporters make your work possible!

By being more proactive in promoting your work, your nonprofit can gain the recognition and support it deserves and continue to make a positive impact in your community.

Recognition doesn’t just feed your ego

Why is it so important to gain recognition in your community? The impact of under-recognition on nonprofits can be significant. When your nonprofit struggles to gain visibility and support, you may have difficulty attracting volunteers and donors. That can hinder your ability to fulfill your mission and achieve your goals.

Limited recognition can also make it harder for nonprofits to build partnerships and collaborations, as you may not be as visible to potential partners.

What’s the solution?

So what can be done to improve recognition for your nonprofit?

Owned media for nonprofits

It’s important to leverage low-cost marketing channels to reach a wider audience. By building a strong online presence and engaging with followers on social media, you can attract new supporters and raise awareness of your work.

In marketing, we call channels like your website and social media posts owned media. These channels are important because you control the content and can build them out by investing time, and not just money.

Earned media for nonprofits

It’s also important to leverage earned media, which is the buzz you start to get when community champions start to share your messaging for you.

A key way to kickstart your earned media is by reaching out to your local network. Building relationships with local media outlets and influencers can be a powerful way to increase recognition for your nonprofit. By working with journalists and influencers who have a large following, you can get your message out to a larger audience and attract more support.

Tell stories to attract attention

Another key part of your strategy for improving your nonprofit recognition is to use storytelling and emotional appeals to connect with your audience. By sharing stories about the people and communities that you serve, you can create a sense of connection and inspire people to take action.

Work together with other nonprofits

Finally, collaborating with other nonprofits and community organizations can be an effective way to increase recognition for your own organization. By working together, nonprofits can pool their resources and reach a larger audience, which can help to raise awareness and support for their causes.

To be effective with this approach, it’s important to have a very clear message about what you do and who you serve. In local communities, a lack of clarity of purpose can confuse your audience, especially if there are similar organizations in your network.

Recognition in a nutshell…

We both know that nonprofits play a vital role in addressing social issues and improving the lives of people in their communities. However, they often struggle to gain the recognition and support they deserve.

As a nonprofit, you can start to increase your recognition by:

leveraging affordable marketing channels
building relationships with media outlets and influencers
using storytelling and emotional appeals
collaborating with other organizations

If you can nail these tactics, you can improve your nonprofit’s recognition and position yourself to do even more good. As a marketing specialist, I help organizations with these things all the time. But the best way to start is to get comfortable with self-promoting. Share your success yourself, and develop a clear message for your community.

If you take one thing away from this article, remember, you’re doing good work; it’s okay to brag about it.

Aron Murch

Aron Murch is the Co-Owner and CIO of 2H Media. Aron helps nonprofits improve their visibility by building video-driven websites that reduce confusion and encourage engagement. Leveraging close to 20 years of marketing experience, Aron oversees and implements crucial strategic projects for nonprofits.

Photo by Shane on Unsplash

6 Branding Strategies to Make Your Nonprofit Stand Out

The human brain processes visual information 60,000 times faster than it processes text. Therefore, when your audience navigates to your website, the first thing they’ll absorb is your visual identity and brand. When they encounter your brand on other marketing materials, they should immediately associate it with your mission.

Your brand is more than just the association between your logo and your organization; it’s a visual reflection of your mission and everything you stand for.

As you establish your nonprofit’s brand identity, carefully consider each visual element and whether or not it reflects your overarching message. The following six strategies will guide you through key elements of the brand development process:

Consider your nonprofit’s audience.
Reflect your brand message.
Get inspired.
Develop your logo.
Carefully choose a color palette.
Create a brand guide.

Effective brands should obviously reflect your mission. If a site visitor browses your site but is surprised by your mission, it shows a misalignment of branding. That leads us to the first strategy for effective branding: analyzing your audience.

1. Consider your nonprofit’s audience.

Think about the people your nonprofit serves and interacts with on a regular basis. This audience is a central focal point for your design decisions because your choices need to resonate with them. For instance, a women’s shelter in a large city should have a different feel than a school reaching disadvantaged children in a rural town.

Loop’s branding guide provides an example of how typeface might differ depending on an organization’s audience:

If your nonprofit speaks with a loud, advocacy-based tone, a strong vertical typeface in bold weights may convey urgency and action. On the other hand, a children’s charity might use a more geometric typeface with a lighter weight to convey a calmer tone.

Always keep in mind, when determining your typeface that the number one priority is ensuring readability. for your website visitors. It’s an important aspect for your brand, but it should also be legible, and easy to read. Your website, for instance, should provide options to increase or decrease the size for accessibility purposes.

Similarly, consider your audience in other branding decisions you make. When designing your logo, ask yourself if it caters to the audience you want to reach. Or when choosing your color palette, consider what shades will resonate with your particular audience and the tone they expect to see.

2. Reflect your brand message.

An important aspect of your brand is the message you wish to convey to your defined audience. Consider the statements that are core to your organization’s mission and how you want to communicate those to your community.

Your mission and vision statements are the core messages that you should reflect for your audience because these define your organization and its goals.

When you make brand decisions, consider how they reflect your core message. Use these brand messages as the basis of your organization’s storytelling strategies and opportunities to show your personality.

3. Get inspired.

You probably have an idea already about what you want to include in your nonprofit’s brand. However, defining each element individually is incredibly challenging.

Look for inspiration from other brands across the web to help define each aspect. Research various websites of other nonprofits, especially those with similar missions. Keep track of the ones that you like, then identify the way those brands used the following elements:

Images. From stock photos to icons, look for consistent imagery across a website that reflects the brand of the organization.
Typography. Typography is a measure of personality on a website. Analyze the font used, its weight, and what other fonts it’s paired with on the sites you prefer. And remember the top priority is readability for your audience.
Colors. As we’ll discuss later, every color is naturally associated with certain causes and feelings. See how color palettes impact your opinions of different sites during the research process.
Logo. Logos are meant to be simple and are the culmination of your brand elements. See how other organizations use logos with and without taglines to represent their cause.

As you review various sites, keep in mind that the best nonprofit websites are inclusive and accessible, easily navigable, attractive and well-designed, and engaging and informational. If there are brand elements that do not fit these criteria, keep them in mind as something to avoid.

This process is not meant to act as the discovery of your brand elements, but an inspiration of what type of brand elements you naturally gravitate towards. Brands are designed to be unique to each organization, so don’t copy another nonprofit’s brand outright. If you’re working with a branding agency, bring them the elements you like so they understand the gist of your brand vision moving forward.

4. Develop your logo.

Everyone recognizes the Nike swoosh, Apple logo, and the Golden Arches for Mcdonald’s when they encounter them. That’s because logos are central and foundational to branding. Your logo is the brand element that everyone will remember and associate with your nonprofit’s cause.

Generally, there are several types of logos you can choose to represent your organization’s brand, including:

Lettermark. These logos are essentially acronyms for the name of the organization, designed in a creative way. HBO or NASA’s logos are examples.
Wordmark. Wordmark logos are similar to lettermark logos, but they use the full brand name. Examples include Google’s logo or the classic Coca-Cola logo.
Pictorial mark. Pictorial logos are graphics that are well-known and represent a brand, like the Twitter bird or Apple logo.
Abstract logos. Abstract logos are a type of pictorial mark, made of an abstract geographic form rather than a picture. Pepsi is an example.
Mascot logos. Mascots are fun cartoon representations of brands. They can be used as a part of or in place of a logo. The Kool-Aid man or KFC’s logo are examples.
Emblem logo. Emblems look similar to seals or crests, consisting of an image inside of a shape. Consider the Starbucks logo as an example.
Combination logo. Some logos use a combination of all of the above. For example, the Doritos logo uses a wordmark inside of an abstract shape.

Whatever type of logo you choose, you will use several other brand elements as a part of your logo. You might use your name as a part of a wordmark or your colors in an abstract image. As a part of your brand pack, you can include a tagline as a part of your logo or omit it for certain uses.

Remember, audience members should immediately associate your logo with your cause and brand, so you need to spread it around. Include your logo on all of your marketing materials, from direct mail letters to email signatures, event invitations, and more.

5. Carefully choose a color palette.

Imagine a supporter navigates from your home page to your donation page and the color palette changes from green and white to red and black. Chances are, they’ll be confused and feel that they’ve left your website. In this example, the dissimilar design of your giving page broke the seamless experience you want to create for your supporters when they navigate through your marketing materials.

The colors you use to represent your brand should be uniform across your marketing platforms and materials and accurately reflect the cause you stand for.

Every color is naturally associated with certain feelings and types of causes, so use the already established associations when you choose your organization’s brand colors. Here are examples of a few colors and the feelings they evoke:

Red. Red is a bold color, used to represent strong emotions like strength and health.
Yellow. Yellow is associated with feelings of warmth and happiness like the sun.
Green. Green is often linked to prosperity and growth, often in terms of the environment.
Blue. Blue has a wide range of representations, from tranquility to professionalism.
Pink. Pink is often associated with creativity and innovation, frequently representing causes in the LGBTQ+ space.

Consider the emotions you want to evoke in your audience when you choose your color palette, then choose colors that naturally stir up those emotions.

The color palette you choose will not only be on your website but should also be spread across all of your various communication platforms to create a seamless experience for your audience.

6. Create a brand guide.

After you’ve defined the elements of your brand, design a brand guide for your team to follow when making design decisions. Your brand guide will be a living document, constantly referenced when anyone is making decisions for marketing materials, website design, or other official public-facing documentation.

Here are some examples of ways to incorporate your brand across a number of channels using your brand guide:

Use the visual elements of your brand guide to design your website, creating a consistent experience between web pages for your audience.
Use the personality defined in your brand guide to write letters for your supporters. Personalize each letter, ensuring it lines up with your mission as well as the needs of the supporter who will be reading it.
Use the imagery and logo defined in your brand guide to create and continuously update your social media accounts. Use your logo for your profile picture and image guidelines for future updates.

Consistency for your brand helps create a seamless experience for your audience as they navigate from channel to channel. If a supporter finds your organization on Facebook, then clicks through to visit your website, they should instantly recognize your brand across every channel.

Creating a nonprofit brand is more than designing a logo for your organization. You must analyze your audience and your cause, then make decisions about how you’ll communicate your core message to the world. Ultimately, your brand should be memorable, emotional, and resonate with your audience.

Guest Author: Ryan Felix

Ryan is a co-founder of Loop: Design for Social Good who brings a strong intuition and insight to create bold, creative & impactful websites. Ryan has led design studios in Toronto and New York using his knowledge of Human Centred Design to increase meaningful conversions and design enjoyable web experiences.