Why NGOs Should Consider Branding to Boost Growth

 

Everywhere, Branding is Identity. One general thought we preach to our clients at NELOC Media is the fact that your Brand is not what you say or think it is, it is what your audience think and say it is. As such, it is necessary to define your brand in such a way that you communicate what you want people to feel, think and say about your brand.

By different world cultures, the essence of a name is to basically cause a direct influence attached to the individual who bears such name. Branding is largely the same thing as the name a man is called. For a further illustration, a police officer should show his identity card or appear in uniform before making an arrest. Those things identify him and makes him perform his duty. In the absence of his ID and uniform, he is likely to be treated as any random person.

To be more specific, Branding is best defined as the unique representation of a concept, idea or platform with intentions to create an impression in the heart of its audience. The history of branding dates back to native agricultural systems where herdsmen made brand marks on their cattle to determine ownership and make the animals unique from others. They did this using hot iron metals, usually inscribing the name of the cattle owner. For some, it could be a special mark on the animal’s ear or other body parts. This system had multiple benefits which stem down to the similar benefits of corporate and organizational branding in our society today.

To build branding for a NGO, you cannot rule out Identity and Reputation. Identity is what the NGO is known for in its activities while Reputation is birthed through the results yielded from the execution of those projects. Reputation too is a close sibling to Integrity. In reality, if the Obama Foundation asks for a donation to support its charity or the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation requests a project funding seed from sponsors around the world, two things will make you donate your money. The first is the Identity and Integrity (of the founders and the platform) while the second is Reputation. 

All Organisations deal largely with integrity and they survive by it. It is either the integrity of the founder and its members or integrity built by the reputation of the organization. In whichever case, integrity and reputation is at stake. Branding is necessary for organisations and NGOs just as it is necessary for brand and company growth. This is why it is advised to be taken seriously. 

Branding is also necessary for NGOs and their survival because it grows trust I'm volunteers, audience and donors as the case may be. This is basically because branding includes consistency. Telling a proper organisation story by consistently engaging your brand elements increases the level of trust from your volunteers, making them willing to work with your organization. At the same time, it creates a better relationship with your audience and greater financial support strength from your sponsors.

Branding begins from YOU, the name of your NGO, your vision, mission and objectives. From here, it flows down to everything else.  You must be deliberate about building a brand for your NGO if you're considering setting up one. If you have launched already, you can work on a rebrand and realign your organisation's story. 

To access our FREE Branding for NGOs Resource, click here.