Mastering Nonprofit Branding: Essential Tips for Successfully Branding Your New Nonprofit
Starting a nonprofit is exciting. It is the tangible culmination of your ideas, passions, expertise, and the support and encouragement you've received. Unfortunately, it's not all sunshine and rainbows.
"A logo is often the first point of contact people have with your brand, so it's worth investing the time and resources to get it right." - Brittny Baugh, Content Creator, Evocati PR
Introduction
You’re a startup with little funding, vying for corporate partners in a crowded space while trying to communicate your mission, vision, and values without an expert team behind you.
It's not easy to be a new nonprofit. We've felt this firsthand. One of the new additions to our client family, MilitaryConnected.org, just launched in 2023. We were with them every step of the way, and it was a daunting task, even with the team we had helping lay the foundation for a successful launch.
READ MORE: Evocati PR Announces MilitaryConnected.org as Newest Client | Evocati PR — Evocati PR
Through creating their brand, we learned the ins and outs of the process. But before we go into successful tips, you need to understand that branding isn't just a buzzword.
Not Just Another Buzzword
To know how to brand, you first have to understand two things: What is branding and why is it important. First, branding is the essence of your organization. Your mission, vision, values, logo, font, image, reputation, the things that set you apart, and who you are. Branding is more than a business buzzword, it's you.
READ MORE: 5 Steps to Building a Compelling and Memorable Brand: Tips from Branding Experts! — Evocati PR
Why is it important? Your brand conveys who you are to your audience. Your brand must be comprehensive, appealing, and congruent throughout your organization and communications. If you are missing one of these key elements, your target market will not relate.
Nonprofit Branding is Essential
Source: Unsplash.com
Branding is even more important for nonprofits. Donors and volunteers do not reap tangible benefits from their goodwill, customers do. Your nonprofit has to convince consumers to donate their time and resources, instead of using them to benefit themselves. People have to notice you and believe in your mission and trust you. How do you accomplish that? Well, with branding, but a PR firm can always help, especially a small PR giant like us.
READ MORE: Small PR Giants: Uncovering the Hidden Powers of Micro PR Agencies — Evocati PR
Proven Winners
Our team has served nonprofits for more than five years. The Evocati PR client family includes Soldiers' Angels, the National Potato Council, the Michigan Potato Industry Commission, Potato LEAF, and of course MilitaryConnected.org.
Every day we ideate, create, and distribute innovative PR and marketing material in collaboration with our nonprofit clients. Learn more about our clients and our work together.
One unique challenge we had was helping a nonprofit create its branding from scratch.
Enter MilitaryConnected.org
After a year of incubating MilitaryConnected.org alongside Aliro, they were ready to burst onto the scene and support the military-connected community (MCC). There was just one problem though: they had no branding.
With no tangible elements, the nonprofit was still just an idea and an empty web domain. That's where we came in.
With the creation of Militaryconnected.org's website, a Brand Standards Guide encompassing logos, fonts, and colors, and the development of the organization's messaging, we successfully branded this new nonprofit. Now with six figures in seed funding, MilitaryConnected.org is set to accomplish its mission.
How did we get there? MilitaryConnected.org wanted a strong, clean brand. The visuals needed to include the official colors America’s service members wear, show the interconnectedness and unity of the diverse demographics in the military-connected community, and guide the organization to serve the MCC.
Narrow the Possibilities
It's just as important to know what you don't want as it is to know what you do want. We began by creating a long list of "Don'ts" with the client before we ever thought about the "Do's". This laid the foundation and gave us all our pieces to play with. By removing the definite no's, we began prototyping. From there, we learned more about what our client preferred and, more importantly, the branding prototypes our client liked.
This process repeated until all parties accepted a new brand and voice that could confidently live on its own. This transparent and patient back-and-forth ensures a brand that accurately represents the essence of an organization.
Today MilitaryConnected.org's brand is a perfect peek into who the organization is, so let's look at the final picture and hear from the Evocati PR resident design expert.
The Results
MilitaryConnnected.org’s new branding. (Source: Evocati PR)
Eventually, we settled on one logo, color, and font combination (pictured above). After rounds of tinkering between both of our teams, we settled on language for the mission, vision, and value statements.
Mission: Improving the lives of America’s military-connected community through employer education, talent engagement, and data-driven research.
Vision: Ensuring every member of America’s military-connected community has equal access to the resources necessary to unlock their full potential.
Values: As a veteran-led nonprofit our values are purpose, inclusion, and service. We adhere to these values through our engagement with corporate partners, stakeholders, and members of the military-connected community.
A common mistake we see from organizations of all industries and sizes is forgoing a Brand Standards guide. Brand standards encompass all official elements of the brand with proper and improper use cases. They are crucial to maintaining consistency and integrity in your brand and image. Retain control of your brand and create a Brand Standards guide.
Tips from a Design Expert
(Source: Unsplash.com)
Brittny Baugh is our expert Content Creator and design expert with more than 15 years of experience. She created the MilitaryConnected.org logo and many of the other design elements. Here are her seven essential tips and tricks for designing a logo:
1. Understand the Brand: Before you start designing, it's essential to have a deep understanding of the brand: its values, target audience, and market position. The logo should reflect the essence of the organization.
2. Simplicity: A simple logo is often more recognizable and memorable. Avoid over-complicating the design with too many elements and colors.
3. Make it Timeless: Aim for a design that won't look outdated in a few years. Classic designs tend to last longer than those following current trends.
4. Versatility: The logo should work across various mediums and applications. It should be scalable, looking good on both a small business card and a large billboard. Consider how it will look in black and white, as well as in color.
5. Color: Colors play a crucial role in conveying a brand's message. Understand color psychology and choose colors that align with the brand’s identity and resonate with the target audience.
6. Typography: If your logo includes text, the font choice is important. It should complement and reinforce the logo's message. Custom typography can help your logo stand out.
7. Symbolism and Uniqueness: A unique symbol or icon can make your logo stand out. However, ensure that it is relevant to the brand and its industry.
You Got This
Every branding article we've created has said it, but we're gonna say it again: Branding is not easy, but it's essential. You have to do it and do it well. For the nonprofit space, that rings even more true. Get your nonprofit started on the right foot with these tips, and others, from the Evocati PR team.
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