The Board’s Role in Managing Your Nonprofit’s Brand

By Howard Adam Levy, Principal, Red Rooster Group

If you have heard of the Red Cross, then you know the power of a strong brand: instant recognition and strong fundraising appeal. But powerful brands don’t just happen, they need to be nurtured. And boards can play an important role in building their nonprofit’s brand so that it engenders trust, inspires donations, and can be leveraged for corporate sponsorships. This article describes the 4 roles that your board can play in managing their nonprofit’s brand.

Board Responsibilities

1. Produce: Define the organization’s values, message, and look.
2. Project: Get the word out about the organization.
3. Protect: Ensure consistency and protect against infringement.
4. Parlay: Leverage the nonprofit’s goodwill into corporate sponsorships.

1. Producing Your Brand

In order to cut through the media clutter, your nonprofit needs to be distinct. Whether you are a new nonprofit or a mature organization seeking to remain relevant amidst increased competition, the board is often instrumental in initiating the need to address branding.

Boards that participate in shaping their nonprofit’s brand have a better understanding of their organization and are more invested in advocating for it. Therefore, the board should be involved throughout the brand development process, which is often conducted by a branding agency or consultants. I recommend that at least one member of the board serve on a marketing or branding task force that oversees the process.

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  Some board members were interviewed as part of the discovery process to get a full picture of the organization.
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  The full board participated in a discussion of brand values, logo, and Web site. This discussion helped everyone see the need to move the organization forward and the rationale for doing so. It also gave the board a stake in the updated logo and Web site.
• After rounds of refinement with the organization’s marketing team, the board reviewed and approved the final designs.
• Your board’s role in this process will vary according to the life-cycle stage of your nonprofit.  Boards of new nonprofits can be particularly helpful in ensuring that the organization’s brand reflects a well-articulated message and not just the passions of the founder. The boards of more mature organizations have a pulse on the competition and can make sure their nonprofit is leading the way, or at least keeping pace, with donor expectations. In organizations facing major challenges, boards will take a more active role in shaping the brand, typically through a strategic planning process that addresses operational issues.

  2. Projecting Your Brand

  Once the brand has been established, it needs to be projected to the world to create brand awareness. Board members are the key “brand ambassadors” who can speak effectively about the organization, getting the word out to donors, the business community, and the media.
  A successful branding process will empower board members to speak clearly about your nonprofit by providing them with an “elevator speech” and specific language to use when talking about the organization or presentations to use with donors. Tools, such as brochures, newsletters, and social media, aren’t just for staff use either. Board members can take an active role in communicating their nonprofit’s brand to key audiences by disseminating brochures to business associations, lining up presentations with corporations, and participating in social media channels, such as their organization’s Facebook page.

  3. Protecting Your Brand

  The board’s third major role as “brand steward” is to protect your organization’s brand from internal or external threats.
• Even a well-crafted tagline, logo, and Web site can lose its potency if it is not used consistently, squandering your organization’s opportunity to establish its brand. A brand manual will help keep your organization on track by specifying guidelines regarding message and values, logo, colors, and typefaces, as well as guidelines for language and social media.
  All board members should have a copy of the organization’s brand manual and should be familiar with it so that everyone tells a consistent story. Consistency builds brand recognition, which leads to increased fundraising, engagement, and partnerships.
  The board also must ensure that the organization’s brand is not being infringed on by other organizations. Just as you avoided a name or logo that sounded like or looked like that of another business or nonprofit so, too, should you make sure no one else takes a bite out of your brand. Only when the board fully understands the brand can it recognize when it becomes compromised and act to protect it.

  4. Parlaying Your Brand

  Once you have a built a strong brand with a positive reputation and good will (often called “brand equity”), you can attract corporate partnerships that bring additional resources or visibility.
  It is the board’s role to ensure that relationships are made with partners whose missions are aligned with the organization’s values. The wrong relationship can undermine your brand and cost you support. For example, if your mission is providing for the well-being of children, you will want to partner with companies that value the nurturing of children’s creativity rather than exploit them as consumers.
  Smart boards recognize that their nonprofit’s greatest asset is its reputation and will act to build it, enhance it, and protect it for the long-term success of the organization.

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  Howard Adam Levy is the principal of Red Rooster Group, a branding, marketing and design firm based in New York City serving nonprofits nationwide. Red Rooster Group helps nonprofit organizations to improve their visibility, communications and fundraising efforts by developing effective strategy, websites, email campaigns and other forms of marketing outreach. From 2007 to 2009, Howard was the Marketing Chair of Governance Matters, an organization dedicated to helping board members understand their roles and responsibilities.

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  This article was published in Board Member magazine, July/August 2010.

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  LINKS

• Read more articles on nonprofit branding.
• See case studies of nonprofit brands.
• Get help with your nonprofit brand.