How to Avoid a Branding Nightmare

Nonprofits are working on serious missions. Which is why it’s puzzling to see some philanthropies with amateurish logos built around garbled acronyms or bad clip art.

Whether groups want to pour all their money into cause projects—or are problematically mandated to—their overall image takes a hit. "You are competing on this whether you recognize it or not," said Brett Traylor, senior partner at Thinkso, a creative agency that’s done editorial, strategy and design work for clients like UBS Investment Bank, The New York Jets and Stanford University.

The bottom line? Your branding efforts affect the bottom line, at least in terms of meeting goals for fundraising, volunteer recruitment and signed petitions.