Why developing your brand is essential for Nonprofits, development organisations and NGOs

Consistency and coherence

An important aspect of an effective and well-governed brand is its consistency across all manifestations of your organisation – be that internal communications to staff or through more campaign-related material targeted at a certain audience. 

Another important aspect of a good brand is its coherence by making sure messages are clear and concise. More importantly, by making sure that your messages are shared amongst all your communications and networks and are not diluted or bent out of shape. This includes providing key stakeholders with a core set of key messages, such as an ‘elevator pitch’, and assets, such as branded presentation decks, templates or brochures, that will form a foundation for your strategy across a variety of contexts. A consistent and coherent brand will lead to many of the points outlined below.

Continuity and trust

How does an organisation imbue trust? Mostly through the actions and deeds it performs, and the interactions the organisation has with its audience.

An organisation that has maintained a well-governed brand over a number of years projects a trusting outlook that, in turn, fosters confidence among donors and partners as well as a potential pool of new supporters. Cultural associations and a feeling of heritage or ownership will only arise with a brand that projects itself in a consistent way over a long period of time. Therefore, the brand should also reflect the local culture and context of where the organisation conducts business. An organisation should also conduct due diligence for any new markets it wishes to enter and adjust its strategy accordingly. This can include, for example, key stakeholder interviews and a messaging architecture specific to a particular geography or context but still faithful to the overall brand.

Recall and recognition

A by-product of a consistent brand is the recognition that your brand will have in the wider world. In other words, an eye-catching, dynamic and engaging visual brand will aid in the recall of your organisation and will also help build awareness among uninitiated audiences. Think, for example, of some of the world’s most recognisable brands and the immediate associations they create with just a simple but engaging graphic or shape. In this sense, it is important for a brand to have a unique visual element that will stand out against other similar entities.

Efficiency and reach

A coherent, consistent and continuous brand framework not only brings recognition to your organisations, it can also ease production of communications assets and deliverables. For example, tone of voice guidelines can aid in drafting copy or talking points, and ready-to-use design templates for social media posts, presentations, campaign materials etc. means that new material is never a case of starting from scratch. All of this can help in getting your communication assets built at speed and at scale within a rapidly-evolving landscape where a lack of adaptability, innovation and flexibility has become a growing risk. This is particularly important for social media, where trends can emerge at a moment’s notice and where it might be important for your organisation to meaningfully engage in the conversation. 

In summary

A strong brand strategy should be a top priority for every nonprofit and development organisation in today’s landscape. Without a clear idea of who, what, why, and how - shared within the framework of a consistent and effective brand identity - the risks of losing both focus and funding become more apparent. 

In the context of growing social, economic and political crises, people are seeking to understand which organisations best align with their values and how they can engage. The proliferation of social media platforms has also created a ‘public square’ with higher risks of losing control of your narrative if you lack clear and consistent messaging. On the flip side, they also create many more opportunities to reach new audiences. By maintaining the status quo and relying on historical relationships, organisations lose out on this untapped potential. In addition, without a compelling visual identity and call to action it is easy for their message to get lost in the noise of so many different voices competing for attention. 

Small-to-medium enterprises can look both to one another and to larger organisations for best practices and knowledge exchange in this area. By creating mutually-beneficial frameworks, they can reach more people with more impact and more sustainability.  

Ultimately, an effective branding strategy articulates the unique position of the organisation, provides a coherent and consistent set of key messages that reinforce this stance, builds trust among stakeholders through a consistent and culturally-responsive approach, and builds a strong foundation of scalable assets that can streamline production and reach new audiences.