Mission statement
In an increasingly crowded marketplace charities have to appeal to a more discerning supporter base than ever before. Hannah Gannagé-Stewart uncovers the key to successful branding
It’s hard to know what came first in long-established charities. Was a brand conceived to attract support, or did the cause give rise to the brand?
The NSPCC had been working to prevent cruelty to children for more than a century when, in 1995, they began thinking of a new campaign to celebrate the millennium. Giles Pegram, who was director of fundraising at the charity from 1979 until last year, said that the team where “bowled over” when Jim Harding, the then chief executive, proposed that they launch a campaign to stop cruelty to children completely.
It was a monumental proposition. “We did a lot of work in terms of research, and people told us, ‘surely you couldn’t have a smaller aspiration as the NSPCC. It’s the obvious thing you should be doing. Of course you’re not going to succeed, or at least not in anybodies lifetime, but it is the right aspiration’.” Pegram explains. That aspiration launched one of the most successful campaigns in history, taking the charity’s income from £50m to £150m per year and establishing a brand with a completely unique mission.
Marian Rose recently became the head of fundraising and communications at Tree Aid, but used to work at the NSPCC, where she helped to launch the Full-Stop Campaign. She remembers the focus groups that the charity ran during that time: “We asked people to imagine they were walking down a corridor and each room was a different children’s charity, and asked ‘how do you react as you walk past those rooms?’. They said Childline had women on the phone, they were really friendly, and you wanted to go in there, pick up the phone and help them. When it came to NSPCC, they said they wanted to put some money under the door because they were frightened of the issues that were being dealt with.”
It is human nature to reject notions that cause emotional pain, and that is something that charities working in these areas must find ways round when creating a brand identity. According to Rose, the NSPCC was perceived not only as frightening but as cold and institutional. So they decided to retain the authority that an institutional perception gave them, and enlisted the Full-Stop campaign as a solution to the painful issues the charity sought to address.
Solution not need
In today’s climate, impact is arguably the most pivotal element of your brand. Whether it is communicating with grant-makers, philanthropists or individual donors, the likely question will be ‘why should I give to you?’.
Steven Dodds is a branding expert at United, a creative agency for non-profits. “If you look at the successful brands in the charity arena, they tend to focus on solutions rather than a need”, he says. “People want to know the difference that their money is going to make and you need to wrap that up in the brand. For local charities, their locality is a big part of that and they should not be shy about using that to create points of difference from charities that are larger.”
Rose agrees: “The advantage of being smaller is you’re in much closer contact with your supporters. It’s not such a mission to go out and ask them what they think because you talk to them everyday and you can do it more informally.”
There is no shame in approaching experts for pro bono advice according to Rose. She says that experts in larger charities are often willing to help, and although agencies are primarily looking to be paid for their services, if you’ve already done the bulk of the thinking yourself they may be willing to help out on technical advice.
Dodds agrees, but warns about cutting corners. “It’s easier to get it wrong than to get it right.” He says. Rebranding is not something that should be done on a regular basis. If the brand is to remain constant in the minds of stakeholders it should only rebrand when a charities’ objectives diversify, or when so much time has elapsed that it has become outdated.
Brand raising
Family Resource Centre UK is a Berkshire charity that works to support families. Historically a family information service, it worked closely with local authorities and was heavily reliant on government funding. When Heather Hunter took over as CEO 18 months ago, the charity was about to have almost all of its statutory funding cut.
She decided to drive the organisation forward by operating within four strands that tie into the charity’s family support remit: information, education, health and sport. The charity partnered with the School of Hoops youth sports initiative and in doing so came into contact with the projects brand manager, Luke Bowler.
With Bowler’s branding expertise, it is now easier for the charity to identify projects that suit its brand. Strategically threading a consistent brand message through everything the organisation does has increased staff engagement, opened channels of communication with potential funders and is leading the charity towards its next goal of reaching out to individual donors – something it has never tried to do before.
This article was originally published in full in the September 2011 issue of The Fundraiser.
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Author: Hannah Gannagé-Stewart
Hannah Gannagé-Stewart is the editor of The Fundraiser.
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