Jeffrey Parkhurst, managing director of brand valuation at Interbrand, acknowledges that nonprofits are not necessarily visible when it comes to thinking about brands with value. "The marketplace doesn't appear to think of not-for-profits as brands with significant brand value," he says. But, he goes on to speculate that some of the larger organizations would actually quantify over a billion dollars if one were to figure out their brand's value.

One of the goals for UNICEF is to leverage that strong brand to educate the public. "When the public understands what it is we want to do, they will support it," says Newman-Williams. "That is our experience. We focus on making our case a compelling case, on engaging the public that cares in understanding what the issues are and how they can make a difference."

Nonprofits valuing their brand? The idea doesn't come easily to the charitable world.

Newman-Williams explains UNICEF's own initial aversion to the concept: "We have an internal barrier to overcome which is the perception that [branding] is for the crass commercial world. We live in the world of No Logo publication. So it's not our daily bread and there was the internal challenge to overcome prejudice."

Bender at Habitat agrees: "I think there is a squeamishness in the minds of nonprofit leadership that a charitable cause or a humanitarian effort could be translated into equity and dollars and cents."

Referring directly to her own organizational culture Newman-Williams at UNICEF says, "[People think] Why in the world would UNICEF be worried about the logo? Our first challenge is really to educate UNICEF people that it's not just the logo -- the logo is the expression. It's also the least important element in many ways of that expression. Those who have been engaged with us [in our recent rebranding efforts], I think, are now quite sold on that."

Habitat's Bender attributes the "newness" of branding in the nonprofit sector to the culture or psyche of nonprofit management. "There seems to be a clear distinction between business school approaches and the way in which charities and causes have evolved over the years. They don't necessarily match in many people's mind, and I think that's a mistake. There are not only synergies but there are common elements in the way that a private-sector organization evolves and grows and the way that a nonprofit or charity would evolve or grow."

Is investment in the brand a frivolous activity for nonprofits? What portion of funds should be allocated to branding?

Alvin Schechter, Chairman of Interbrand's Foundation, a program which extends branding expertise to charitable organizations, puts the figure into context by using the corporate world as a base. For instance, a for-profit brand like a perfume manufacturer devotes perhaps two percent of its money to mixing the concoction and 98 percent to the branding (e.g., packaging, brand protection, promotion, etc.).

However, Schechter says, "I would think that the serious nonprofit with a social mission would be more like the reverse of that - ideally 98 percent to the cause and two percent to the brand. It may be enough in one instance and not in another. But the goal is to make it very, very small -- as small as possible."

Ironically, public perception of marketing spend may be much greater than the actual numbers. This can perhaps explain the wariness organizations feel at the thought of studying their brand.

However, there are organic ways to harness the passion of members, volunteers and organizational staff to keep that number small for nonprofits.

Parkhurst notes that you can also grow brand value without advertising or marketing spend. To illustrate this, he chooses an example from the corporate world. "Starbucks has done a tremendous job of recognizing and growing the role of the brand. Their image is firmly ground into our minds through carefully cultivation of the Starbucks experience, for instance, the atmosphere of the café, the quality of the product, the consistency of the encounter, and the staff."

And what's the best part about having a strong brand? "A stronger brand can perhaps make it easier to attract funding and donations," says Parkhurst, "thereby making the fundraising process more efficient by harnessing the brand to work toward growing the support base."

The more nonprofits understand the value of their brand, the better control they can exercise over how and when that brand gets used and the better they can put their donations to use in furthering their cause.    

[29-Jul-2002]