Revitalizing Your Nonprofit’s Picture: 4 Steps to Rebrand

It’s no secret that, in an effort to additional your nonprofit’s mission, you should appeal to supporters to your group and encourage them to take motion. That’s why you probably put plenty of effort and time into cultivating your group’s picture throughout a wide range of print and digital advertising and marketing channels.

As your nonprofit expands and evolves, so ought to its picture. Finally, you may discover that your group’s values and character now not align together with your model—i.e., the visuals and messaging you utilize to symbolize your nonprofit in your communications. When this occurs, it might be time to rebrand!

On this information, we’ll stroll by means of the 4 core steps for rebranding your nonprofit, together with the way to:

1. Outline Your Objectives and Values
2. Create New Model Property
3. Talk With Stakeholders
4. Roll out Your Rebrand

Be suggested that an organizational rebrand is not any small enterprise—it’ll require plenty of time, power, and assets out of your workforce. Nevertheless, the elevated potential to achieve new audiences, retain present supporters, and unfold consciousness about your mission that usually comes from rebranding will make your efforts worthwhile. Let’s dive in!

1. Outline Your Objectives and Values

The very first thing to do when contemplating rebranding your group is to find out what precisely you wish to get out of the method. Widespread targets for nonprofit rebranding embody:

• Enhancing supporter engagement
• Rising consciousness of your work
• Positioning your group aside from different related nonprofits
• Signaling an inner change in your nonprofit’s path, like a management transition.

After you’ve established why you wish to rebrand your nonprofit, take into account your group’s mission and values. Your model ought to enable you inform your group’s story, so take into consideration what kind of visuals and written content material would can help you do that the majority successfully.

2. Create New Model Property

When you’ve gone by means of the planning course of, it’s time to dig into the precise work of rebranding by creating new model belongings in your nonprofit. Understand that not all rebrands would require an entire overhaul of your present branding—typically, you may simply must replace a number of components.

Some facets of your nonprofit’s model that you just may take into account redesigning embody your:

• Colour palette. Colours are naturally related to sure emotions and concepts, so your model colour decisions ought to align together with your nonprofit’s values. For instance, in case your major model colour is at present purple, you’re speaking that your group is passionate and robust. Nevertheless, if you happen to’d choose to convey a way of belief and professionalism, switching your primary model colour to blue will enable you obtain that.
• Typography. The fonts you select for written content material needs to be simply readable initially, however their fashion and weight may symbolize your nonprofit’s character. Select no less than two model typefaces—and not more than three—so as to add visible selection to your content material with out making it look cluttered.
• Emblem. Nonprofit logos usually mix the group’s colours, typography, and pictures associated to their space of labor right into a graphic that serves as the muse of visible branding. To that finish, be sure that your up to date brand displays your mission and helps construct an emotional connection together with your viewers.
• Messaging requirements. Though visuals are extra generally related to the time period “branding” than messaging is, the best way your nonprofit communicates in written type is simply as vital as how your advertising and marketing supplies look. Take into account revising the rules for tone, phrase selection, and different stylistic components of written communications as you rebrand to make sure your group is precisely represented.

Loop’s article on nonprofit branding suggests compiling all of those components right into a single doc often called a model information. As you rebrand, be sure that to maintain your model information updated in order that it could actually function a reference for anybody inside or exterior your group who works in your advertising and marketing supplies.

3. Talk With Stakeholders

One of many primary dangers you are taking by rebranding your group is shedding its recognizability locally. To keep away from this difficulty, talk together with your nonprofit’s stakeholders all through the method. That method, they’ll not solely remember that your group is rebranding but in addition be capable to present suggestions in your new model components earlier than they’re finalized.

Listed below are the primary teams of stakeholders to contain in your rebranding course of:

• Workers members. Your workers have an insider view of your nonprofit’s operations, and every employees member will deliver a barely completely different perspective relying on what space of your group they work in. Ask them to explain your nonprofit’s mission and values in their very own phrases, and take their concepts into consideration as you revise your pointers.
• Board members. Your board members are in a singular place as each leaders at your nonprofit and representatives of it locally. Subsequently, they’ll present recommendation primarily based on each their very own observations as they oversee your group and what they find out about your nonprofit’s broader fame.
• Supporters. As a result of the audience in your rebranding efforts is your supporters, they need to have a say within the course of as effectively. Take into account sending out surveys or holding focus teams to get their opinions on completely different updates you’re contemplating making. Asking for supporter suggestions in these methods may can help you domesticate stronger relationships with them, serving to you obtain a possible objective of your rebrand.

Use the insights you obtain from every of those teams to make revisions to your new model belongings. Additionally, speaking the timeline of your rebrand with all of those teams makes them much less more likely to be caught off guard while you roll out your updates and generates pleasure round this new enterprise in your group.

4. Roll out Your Rebrand

When the time involves roll out your rebrand, the bottom line is making certain consistency throughout your entire group’s communications. Incorporate your new model belongings into the next advertising and marketing supplies:

• Your nonprofit’s web site. Add your up to date brand to the highest left nook of the navigation bar with a hyperlink to your homepage in order that it seems on each web page of your website. Moreover, use your revised messaging requirements throughout your entire web site copy, out of your About web page to your weblog.
• Electronic mail advertising and marketing. Design new electronic mail templates for newsletters, occasion bulletins, and different updates that embody your colour palette and typography so supporters see it as quickly as they open your messages.
• Social media. Change your entire group’s profile photos to your new brand, and create graphics for Instagram and Fb that embody your colour scheme. Though it may be more difficult to use your model messaging requirements to put up captions than in long-form writing, attempt to align the shorter copy with these pointers as a lot as attainable.
• Print communications. Your nonprofit’s branding ought to stay constant offline in addition to on-line. Write junk mail messages utilizing your model typography, and design eye-catching flyers that characteristic your new brand and colour scheme.

In your model information, embody examples of how your up to date model might be utilized to every of those advertising and marketing supplies. By being constant in the best way you apply your rebrand in observe, you’ll assist supporters proceed to acknowledge your model and emotionally join with it.

Your nonprofit’s model ought to encourage your viewers to be taught extra about your mission and take motion to help it. Rebranding can present the renewed inspiration your supporters must just do that. Use the steps above to get began, and don’t hesitate to achieve out to consultants if you happen to need assistance or have any questions alongside the best way.