Branding

Rebranding any type of product, service, company or school can be extremely challenging work, but one of the most difficult pieces to rebrand is an annual fund. Fundraising of any type can be very difficult to brand because there are so many working parts to consider as you piece together your graphic masterpiece. Not only do you have to consider your donors, but you also have to consider your alumni, other graphics being used by the university and the image you hope to encapsulate, as well as many other elements...

Think of your brand as a person that exudes a personality, a tone, a feeling, values, etc. Does your brand represent what you want for your organization?

Although I am now a fundraising consultant, I worked for about three decades for three different nonprofits. That’s long enough that it left an indelible imprint on me, and I still react like an organizational fundraiser when I hear stories on the news that directly or indirectly impact nonprofit organizations. The truth is it’s impossible to keep up on everything that matters, or potentially could matter—and that’s not for a lack of opportunities...

Take a look at your nonprofit’s branding strategy. If it’s an afterthought—or even if it’s already high priority but in need of a refresh—it might be time to make it an integral part of your donor engagement strategy. It might be time to rebrand. Here’s what you need to know before you do...

Recently I visited my son at his university. We went out to breakfast on that fine Saturday morning to a local restaurant.

What if we are making the world a better place by simply trying to raise money? In our quest to get people to raise more money, we might be making them nicer people. This is the latest social science treasure that the Turnkey resident neuropsychologist, Otis Fulton, noted to me (yelled from the kitchen).

Make sure people know what you want them to know about you. Try to control the message before it controls you.     

        

In the nonprofit fundraising world, here are some of the trends we’ll be watching for and responding to in 2015.

When making an organizational shift, we almost always want to start with a process, a thing that is easy to see and, hopefully, immediate in its impact. The place to begin, however, is with understanding the principles that are involved and operating in the situation.

I have scary news for you: Brand Experts are looking for you. These slick professionals from the commercial world see your organization the way a hungry lion sees an overweight, three-legged zebra. They’re salivating at the prospect of creating a new brand for you.