To help nonprofits improve their brands, Red Rooster Group has launched the Nonprofit Brand Institute, the premiere source for news, information and service about nonprofit brands. We’re here to help you build a stronger brand so that you can be more effective in your fundraising and in achieving your mission. When nonprofits are able to clearly articulate their message, they are able to reach donors more effectively and raise more money. And when they do, we all win.
> NPBrandIt.com
Purpose
- Provide a national clearinghouse about nonprofit branding to help nonprofits understand the importance of having a strong brand and how to develop one.
- Establish best practices and case studies to share what strategies work and standards for boards to consider in establishing brand valuation and guidelines for nonprofits.
- Provide a national outlet for channelling design talent to work on behalf of the nonprofit sector on a paid basis.
- To develop the nonprofit sector as a viable career choice for designers.
Nonprofits’ Need for Branding
With increased competition, shifting funding sources and more sophisticated donors and shrinking attention span, nonprofits face severe marketing challenges that can impede their success and even threaten their existence. Branding experts can help nonprofits to:
- Explain their message clearly to gain more supporters, raise more money and be more effective with their programs.
- Adapt from a loss of government funding to a “marketing mindset”that helps attract clients and donors.
- Present a professional message to appeal to diverse funding sources.
- Position organizations to take a leadership role on issues.
- Advocate effectively for legislative change and mobile its members into action.
- Clarify their message update their look so that they can remain relevant to younger donors.
- Take advantage of the social media and new technology to raise money, engage donors and fulfill their mission.
- Promote fundraising events more effectively.
- Inspire people to behavioral change.
- Solve societal problems through education, entertainment and persuasion.
Need for the Nonprofit Brand Institute
- Approximately 1 million nonprofit organizations in the United States, most of them (about 80%) are below $200,000 in annual revenue. Faced with increasing competition and dwindling donor base, nonprofits need to work harder at differentiating themselves, and don’t know where to turn for help to answer questions such as: “How can my organization benefit from having a strong brand? How much does it cost? How can we find the right help? What’s involved in the process? What results can I expect? What have other organizations done?”
- There are a plethora of design firms offering services to nonprofits, but no single, trusted source to turn to which provides best practices and resources, and links to appropriate professional help.
- There are 286,000 designers in the country working independently or for small design firms. Designers want to help, but are unaware of the opportunity to help nonprofits, and don’t know how to connect with them. (Statistic source: US Dept. of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Objectives
This initiative aims to have far-reaching effects on the nonprofit sector and the design profession.
- To change the landscape of the nonprofit sector to provide more nonprofits with professional design and so they can remain competitive and attract more funding and be sustainable for the long-term. We aim for nothing less than a fundamental shift in nonprofits embracing marketing techniques of the business world as a means to remain relevant to a highly sophisticated audience.
- To change funding expectations and practices to support the essential investment in marketing at the foundation and individual donor levels (as part of the movement to shift emphasis from fundraising expenses to organizational impact).
- To create a market that pays designers for creating a better world so that their only other option is not promoting goods and services that may be detrimental to our long-term sustainability. Channeling talent into the nonprofit sector can help to pre-empt many of the problems that the nonprofit sector is trying to address. Let’s put our nation’s creative talent to work for the nonprofit sector.
- To solve more social problems. Designers are trained to look at issues critically, apply a process and develop solutions. The nonprofit sector will be all the stronger working in tandem with designers to motivate behavioral changes, and inspire people to action and see problems through a fresh lens.
The Nonprofit Brand Institute In the News
The Nonprofit Brand Institute site debuted at the New Jersey Center for Nonprofit’s conference in December 2009. We are pleased that the site is being very well received by nonprofits as well as organizations such as the Foundation Center and National Council of Nonprofits.
In March, 2009, The Nonprofit Brand Institute was featured in BoardSource’s email newsletter.
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