Every day in America, there are tens of thousands of people working for social change. But how can anyone know if most are succeeding?

Those nonprofits most likely to succeed today see themselves as social problem-solving organizations, deeply skilled at sharing true stories — not spin — to help us understand their values and the urgent “why and how” of their work. But many other nonprofits, if not most, have yet to adopt that mindset, and the sector’s lack of transparency remains largely unchanged and unchallenged.

Post-pandemic, is your .org’s purpose still relevant? More clear? Is it sharing, externally and internally, how and why its brand face and voice might need more than just a new web site to succeed? What is your organization’s story of now—and next?

“The future doesn’t fit into the containers of the past.”

Rishad Tobaccowala, Chief Growth Officer, Publicis Groupe

Here’s a quick list of 8 things to consider when preparing your annual New Year’s audit of your organization’s brand. Funding of nonprofits by individual donors of all stripes is sagging this giving season, sector-wide. Nonprofits are being held to new standards. It’s time to either re-affirm—or hear and re-set —what your organization’s brand means to others. Only then can it speak more effectively, build greater trust and more factually (and inclusively) showcase (and prove) its reason for being during these changing times.

Step 1: Get a fresh understanding of the need for your cause/organization. What does it stand for? Whether you’re creating a new cause or struggling to re-set or re-brand one that already exists, it might be time to re-think how you’re articulating its strategic “reason for being” and survey some key stakeholders to understand how they see its need and relevance in today’s world. Why should someone choose your organization to support over others championing similar causes? Listen, bravely. It’s a valuable reality-check.

Step 2: Get input from those you’re serving now. Create an interview guide for both quantitative and qualitative research, to better understand how your organization is succeeding or missing the mark, and how it is being perceived by the people your cause is trying to help. Think about who you will interview, where you will interview them and what you will ask them—and what kind of input, in particular, will be most critical. Assign a mixed team of internal and external pollsters to conduct the interviews face-to-face, and capture smartphone videos of many of the responses for internal review. Analyze the data and make recommendations for next steps. Consider creating a Perception Map to help share the results of your research.

Step 3: Re-position your cause in today’s world. We’re all now experiencing a highly transitional time in our histories. Take stock of what you’ve learned about how your stakeholders, supporters and communities need to see and experience to keep supporting you going forward. Consider this exercise a way to move your supporters from being allies to heart-felt advocates. Additionally, map the other brands in your organization’s cause category, especially those which have come up with re-sets of their own and new ways to serve. Gather all existing data to analyze for key takeaways. What is the need you’re serving now, post-COVID? How is that which your organization is known for (its brand) still relevant? How might your existing brand become more inclusive and action-focused to better achieve its social purpose? 

Step 4: Size up your work culture and skill set. How does your organization’s brand face and voice fare among job-seekers? What is your organization promising to deliver, but isn’t—at least, not yet? How does that promise get materialized? How can your brand become more relevant to your employees, your most important network? How can your organization become more inclusive of diverse perspectives and new skill sets? How can it become more responsive to the needs of employees and the people your organization serves?

Step 5: Re-think your positioning and tagline. After you’ve re-visited your reason for being; learned more about the needs of your stakeholders, and sized up your service offerings in today’s marketplace, does your purpose statement (or mission) need to change? Create a short tagline that describes your updated “why” in a way that is far more accurate, unique — and inspires.

Step 6: Visualize your brand’s fresh take on its ‘why’ as a video, audio, text and data story. Collect documents and objects related to your organization’s brand that showcase, graphically, its strategic reason for being. List the brand’s 3 main values. Come up with a short list of what your new web site might need to look and sound like—now, and what core truths and values you might need to share — accurately — to move forward.

Step 7: Bring what’s most distinctive about your brand voice to life. Consolidate what you’ve learned or re-learned into a single creative brief that will be a snapshot of your organization as it is now, and how it needs to evolve to create a better next. Document, with new examples, what makes your brand most challenged — as well as uniquely valued — and prioritize what is needed now to achieve success and give your supporters new on-ramps to participation.

Step 8: Keep it simple. Your brief can be a 5-page outline, an 10-slide deck, or include a 2-minute smartphone video sharing new insights. Be sure to synthesize key learnings from your stakeholder interviews, conversations with competitors and your exploration of a possible re-set. Share the brief as the start of a new conversation or a re-branding plan to re-set the organization’s brand face, voice and approach to its work.

Want a deeper dive?

Our popular three-day workshop, Re-branding for Success, will be offered again in 2023, taught by our global storytellers and brand visionaries, with guest spots by high-profile sector leaders sharing their new approaches to social good in this time of rapid change in the sector. Let us help you build greater resonance, trust, engagement, awareness and support — now and for the years ahead.

Email us at connect@brandstories.com for more information or to sign up. Customized schedules for corporate/nonprofit teams are available, and class sizes are limited.