How much attention does your organization pay to its brand? Branding strategy is easily ignored, but is actually key to your organization’s success. We’ve gathered news and tips to help your nonprofit brand itself effectively.

News and Tips for Nonprofits

What Makes for a Successful Nonprofit Brand?

In his Philanthropy News Digest article, Matt Schwartz discusses the 3 elements of a successful nonprofit brand: strategy, craftsmanship, and consistency. He also explains that the battle for a successful nonprofit brand is fought on multiple fronts:

• It must be represented by your volunteers and staff
• It must be consistent throughout all messaging and interactions shared with the community
• It must contain visual design elements that attract attention and engage individuals
• It must help explain and reinforce your organizational strategy and mission statement

Evaluate your organization’s brand using these bullets. How do you stack up? Do you think your brand is strong – or does branding need to be revisited and restrategized within your organization?

4 Tips to Use Video to Promote Your Nonprofit Brand

In the battle for branding, many organizations are turning to multimedia to help engage audiences using platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. Here are 4 tips to help you create a video that promotes your nonprofit brand effectively:

1. Understand the medium – video needs to be exciting! The combination of images, interviews and sounds can help you tell a great story.
2. Use the right people for the job – there is a tendency to use upper management in promotional materials. But if these individuals are not engaging speakers, they are probably not the best fit – despite their impressive titles. Consider incorporating them in other ways, and allow that charming volunteer to light up the screen. Don’t forget about the communities you serve. An individual that can share a specific experience or interaction with your organization can do wonders for your brand.
3. Don’t forget about the audience – our attention spans are limited! Keep the video short and sweet, and ensure that it features more than a talking head reading from a script.
4. Include a call to action – This could be information on how an individual can get involved or donate, or information about an upcoming event. Your video should leave the viewer with a desire to help out.

Are You Using Email Effectively?

Email campaigns are a great way to engage with an audience and keep them up- to-date on all of your projects. Maybe you already have a strong online presence – and lots of email subscribers. Still, it’s very easy to lose a subscriber with poorly crafted communications. Your emails could also be completely missed by a subscriber if the subject line isn’t quite right. Here are the 3 questions you should ask yourself before sending any email communication to your audience:

• Is your subject line compelling?
• Do you have interesting images?
• Is your content interesting?

If the answer to any of the above is no, you need to edit your email before hitting send.

5 Must Attend Sessions at the 501(c) Conference in June

This year’s 501(c) Conference, organized by the Center for Nonprofit Management, is all about impact. Here are 5 sessions you won’t want to miss. For more information, check out this blog post.

• Making the Leap and Making a Difference
• A View from The White House
• Real Outcomes. Real Cost. Can You Make the Case?
• Taking Risks, Driving Change
• Scaling Social Impact

If you’re interested in attending the conference, register here.

News in the Service Sector

• How Does Your Organization Use Data? Go Beyond Performance Assessment.
• Organizations are Raising More Funds Online – Revenue Up 13%
• Do Millennials Want to Participate in their Corporation’s Volunteer Program?
• Get Your Brand Known:  5 Quick Social Media Tips for Your Nonprofit
• Keep in Touch with Your Volunteers with Video Conferencing

Making a Difference

On Tuesday May 5th, volunteers at the Arlington Heights Memorial Library in Chicago were honored by library trustees and staff. Last year, 452 volunteers contributed an amazing 28,498 hours of service to the library. Volunteers were recognized for their contributions to many areas of the library including genealogy, ESL, Kids’ World, the Friends of the Library, the bookmobile, and even for instructing computer classes.

The Volunteer Of The Year award was presented to Terry Gavin, who volunteered 421 hours of time instructing computer courses for seniors. Gavin noted: “”I love helping people, and I enjoy working with everyone at the senior center. It’s fun. They’ve given me more than I’ve given them.”

Our hats are off to these dedicated volunteers!

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