How is Rebranding Different for Non-Profits?
Nonprofit organizations may have different goals than for-profit companies, but they can (and should) borrow tactics from the corporate world to help themselves stay relevant to potential volunteers, donors, and the public.
Staff and board members at nonprofits are likely to get caught up in the larger mission of their organization and end up working with long-outdated branding or a design that reflects previous leadership values. But just like in the corporate world, a nonprofit's branding must adapt over the years to stay modern and to avoid growing stale in the public eye.
An organization may choose to launch a new brand as a fundraising tool. Showing the world a new perspective on your nonprofit can get you publicity and renew the public's interest in, or awareness of, the issues you care about. In this way, branding can function like a PSA campaign.
Rebranding can also be a way of strengthening internal brand awareness and create more cohesion within a staff, which can extend from employees to board members to volunteers. If a nonprofit holds fundraising events and depends on volunteers, that organization essentially has many part-time brand ambassadors. Making sure everyone is on the same page with regards to values, as well as the visual and verbal identities of the organization, is essential. Designing a modern, well-implemented brand can encourage volunteers and staff members alike to show their pride for the organization by wearing branded shirts or buttons or by passing out promotional items such as stickers.
People who work for nonprofits tend to be passionate about what they do. They are often representing an organization that works to create awareness about issues that may range from public health to environmental concerns to equal rights policies. Nonprofits generally work with the ultimate goal of creating change, rather than revenue. An organization's brand should reflect their staff's enthusiasm for their work and should make both the public and internal staffs feel that they are at the fore of what they do.