Nonprofit branding has become increasingly essential. With many charity organizations with similar missions sprouting forth day by day, it has become imperative that you set your nonprofit apart from the competition through an effective branding strategy. Strategic branding will help you cultivate donor loyalty and differentiate you from other organizations to attract more donations to further your nonprofit mission. A well-defined and executed brand strategy affects all aspects of your nonprofit and connects directly to your target audience’s needs and emotions. In today’s podcast, Beth Brodovsky from Iris Creative and Stephen Halasnik from Financing Solutions, a leading provider of business loans for nonprofits in the form of a line of credit, discuss brand strategy and audience targeting for nonprofit
Summary
Brand Strategy and Audience Targeting for Nonprofits
With so many nonprofits operating across the globe, it becomes imperative that you should strive to make your organization stand out to build more meaningful connections with target audiences. An effective nonprofit branding strategy should be a priority for every nonprofit organization that aims to set itself apart from competitors and build stellar donor relationships.
Knowing what makes your organization special, unique, and distinctive to deliver on them will help you build a nonprofit that stands the taste of time.
In this post, we will walk you through the meaning of nonprofit branding, nonprofit branding strategy, nonprofit branding guidelines, and a lot more so that you can build a sustainable organization.
What Is Nonprofit Branding
Like businesses, nonprofits should put considerable effort into branding in order to build a robust reputation. That said, nonprofits’ branding is the bridge that connects their mission to their marketing. Branding helps nonprofits to stand out from the pack and creates relationships with the target audiences by cultivating loyalty and trust.
The goal of nonprofit branding is to ensure that your nonprofit organization becomes memorable in the eyes of people so that they can support your mission over your competition. In addition, an effective nonprofit branding strategy can help you generate more funding, promote your awareness and build a long-lasting relationship with your donors.
What Is Nonprofit Branding Strategy?
A nonprofit branding strategy is a grand plan that outlines how your organization will build connections with people that are empathetic to your nonprofit’s cause. It involves leveraging the unique things that make your nonprofit special and distinctive
Experience shows that people give to further their dreams and your organization is a facilitator. Therefore, it’s important you learn what your target donors care about the most to deliver on them. Below are the strategies for nonprofits branding:
Define Your Mission
Building an effective nonprofit brand starts with a clear understanding of your purpose. Knowing and defining your organization’s fundamental, unique purpose is a great differentiator between you and your competitors. In other words, you should clearly state why your nonprofit exists, whom it serves and how it intends to serve them.
You should be able to convince your target audiences that your nonprofit has the capacity to deliver on its avowed mission more than any organization by demonstrating a commitment to providing value and creating a better life for the community it serves.
Be Consistent 
You should be consistent with your brand messaging across channels. In other words, your visuals, tones, and approach must align with your brand to resonate with the target audiences. Consistency promotes brand recognition and, in turn, enhances donors’ loyalty.
Keep your branding and logo consistent on your website, social media channels, newsletter, brochures, emails, and more to create an easy recognition that fosters loyalty and trust. Additionally, if you intend to raise money online, it’s important you create a branded donation page for your nonprofit.
Appeal to Emotions
As much as human beings make rational decisions, emotions still impact many of our acts. And when it comes to charity, emotions play a vital role. So figure out ways to connect with your donors on a deeper, more emotional level.
Make them feel like part of the family by giving them a high sense of belonging. When you provide your donors with the opportunity to feel like they’re part of a larger group than just mere donors, they will be able to contribute more to the growth and development of your nonprofit.
Build Loyalty
To foster loyalty, you should devise means of rewarding people supporting your mission. Cultivating loyalty from these people early on will help keep them and motivate them to do more for your nonprofit.
You should go beyond sending automated ‘thank you messages’ to writing personalized letters to your critical donors to show how you value their support so as to create long-lasting mutual relationships. Loyalty is an important aspect of nonprofit branding as it helps highlight a positive relationship between you and your existing donors.
Involve Your Employees
Employees are critical stakeholders in your nonprofit; as a result, you must carry them along in your branding effort so that they become well-versed in what your organization represents and communicate the same to the target audience.
Holding your employees to your nonprofit’s core values will help your organization build a strong reputation for solid, helpful teammates that will positively impact your nonprofit mission.
Final Thoughts
To bring your nonprofit to the center of attention, you must put considerable effort into branding by leveraging the best strategies for nonprofits. Irrespective of where your organization is at the moment, you can make a difference by creating strong nonprofit branding. You can take a cue from nonprofit branding examples from organizations including Oxfam, Sickkids, Help Refugees, and more.
Learn About Our Guest
As the president of Iris Creative Group Inc., Beth Brodovsky works with nonprofit leaders to focus their audience and move them to action. For 25 years, Beth and her team have developed nonprofit branding, marketing, and fundraising communication. She runs Nonprofit Toolkit, training programs to grow in-house marketing skills on staff, hosted the 200-episode Driving Participation Podcast, and speaks on nonprofit marketing nationally.
Learn About Stephen Halasnik
Stephen Halasnik is the host of the popular Nonprofit MBA Podcast. The Nonprofit MBA podcast’s purpose is to help nonprofit leaders and their teams. Stephen is the Co-founder and Managing Partner of Financing Solutions, a leading provider of loans for nonprofits in the form of a Line of Credit. Stephen is a best-selling Amazon author and is considered a leading authority on building great, purpose-driven businesses.
Stephen lives in New Jersey, and his top life mission is to raise his two sons, Michael and Maxwell, to be good men.
