The Money-Raising Nonprofit Brand: Motivating Donors to Give, Give Happily, and Keep on Giving

The Money-Raising Nonprofit Brand: Motivating Donors to Give, Give Happily, and Keep on Giving

by Jeff Brooks
Released March 2014
Publisher(s): Wiley
ISBN: 9781118583425

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Book description

Why commercial-style branding doesn't work for nonprofits—and what does

Taking its cue from for-profit corporations, the nonprofit world has increasingly turned to commercial-style branding to raise profiles and encourage giving. But it hasn't worked. Written by a longtime industry insider, this book argues that branding strategies borrowed from for-profit companies hasn't just failed, but has actually discouraged giving. But why does branding—a well-developed discipline with a history of commercial success—fail when applied to nonprofits? The Money-Raising Nonprofit Brand + Website argues that commercial-style branding is the wrong tool applied in the wrong way to the wrong industry.

  • Offers a real-world fundraising strategies that work in the nonprofit world

  • Disabuses readers of the dangerous notion that commercial-style marketing works in the fundamentally different nonprofit world

  • Written by an industry insider with 25 years of experience raising funds for many of the most successful nonprofits in the world

    • Nonprofit fundraising is a fundamentally different world—financially, emotionally, and practically—than commercial marketing. Here, the author explains why commercial marketing strategies don't work and provides practical, experience-based alternatives that do.

    Table of contents

    1. Cover
    2. Title Page
    3. Copyright
    4. Acknowledgments
    5. About the Author
    6. Introduction: How This Book Can Transform Your Fundraising
    7. Part One: The Money-Losing Nonprofit Brand: How Branding Often Goes Wrong for Nonprofit Organizations
      1. Chapter One: How and Why Commercial-Style Branding Can Torpedo Your Organization
        1. Why the New Brand Didn't Work
        2. How Commercial Branding Works
        3. Summary
      2. Chapter Two: Branding in the Real World
        1. There Is a Better Way to Brand
      3. Chapter Three: What Branding Work Can Do to Fundraising Revenue
        1. If You Change Your Logo
        2. If You Change Your Graphic Standards
        3. If You Change Your Copy Standards
        4. If You Change Your Organization's Name
        5. If You Change Your Cause Identification
      4. Chapter Four: We're Being Brandjacked: A Guide to Survival
        1. Brandjacking Warning Sign 1: The New Brand Is Not Aimed at Your Donors
        2. Brandjacking Warning Sign 2: The New Brand Requires You to Abandon Your Donors
        3. Brandjacking Warning Sign 3: The Work Is Not Grounded in Donor Behavior
        4. Brandjacking Warning Sign 4: The New Brand Describes Your Cause in a Symbolic Way
        5. Brandjacking Warning Sign 5: The New Brand Requires Absolute Consistency
        6. Brandjacking Warning Sign 6: The New Brand Is Design—and Little Else
      5. Chapter Five: Why Branding Matters, and Why It Makes No Difference
        1. Aunt Edna
    8. Part Two: Your Call to Action: How Your Cause Connects with Donors and Brings Your Brand into Their Lives
      1. Chapter Six: The Seven Elements of a Fundraising Offer
        1. Element 1: A Problem
        2. Element 2: A Solution
        3. Element 3: Cost
        4. Element 4: Urgency
        5. Element 5: Donor Context
        6. Element 6: Donor Benefits
        7. Element 7: Emotion
      2. Chapter Seven: Your Fundraising Offer from the Inside Out
        1. A Fundraising Offer Is Specific
        2. A Fundraising Offer Is Believable
        3. A Fundraising Offer Is Bite-Sized for Donors and Flexible
        4. A Fundraising Offer Has a Sense of Leverage
        5. A Fundraising Offer Is Defensible
      3. Chapter Eight: Great Fundraising Offers in the Real World
        1. Child Sponsorship
        2. Sponsorship Lite
        3. Food Bank Leverage Offer
        4. Shipping
        5. Matching Funds
        6. Catalog
    9. Part Three: Your Fundraising Icon: The Image that Reminds Donors Why They Give to You
      1. Chapter Nine: The Visual Foundation of Your Brand
        1. Your Icon Has a Clear Focal Point
        2. Your Icon Is a Person
        3. Your Icon Is Focused on the Face
        4. Your Icon Is One Person, Not a Group
        5. Your Icon Is a Picture of Unmet Need
        6. Your Icon Is a Photo, Not an Illustration
        7. How I Lost My Perspective and Got It Back Again
      2. Chapter Ten: How to Find and Refine Your Fundraising Icon
        1. Step 1: Find a Hypothesis
        2. Step 2: Put Aside Your Preferences and Winnow
        3. Step 3: Use Direct-Response Testing
    10. Part Four: The Donor-Focused Nonprofit: How to Become Your Donors' Favorite Cause
      1. Chapter Eleven: Leprosy or Hansen's Disease? What Donors Need to Know
        1. Five Ways Nonprofits Drive Away Their Donors
      2. Chapter Twelve: Communicating as if Donors Mattered
        1. Donor-Focused Stories
        2. Reporting Back: Set Yourself Apart
        3. Donor Control Over Communication
        4. Appropriate Design
        5. How to Measure Donor Communication
      3. Chapter Thirteen: The Structure of a Donor-Focused Nonprofit
        1. A Well-Run Nonprofit Is Aligned around Fundraising Goals
        2. A Well-Run Nonprofit Is Not Run by Committees
        3. A Well-Run Nonprofit Doesn't Have a Marketing Department
        4. A Well-Run Nonprofit Has a Plan for Every Donor
        5. A Well-Run Nonprofit Has Its Donor Data Act Together
        6. A Well-Run Nonprofit Is Donor Connected
      4. Chapter Fourteen: The Culture of the Donor-Focused Organization
        1. A Donor-Focused Nonprofit Is Investment Oriented
        2. A Donor-Focused Nonprofit Has a Fact-Based Culture
        3. A Donor-Focused Nonprofit Doesn't Treat All Donors the Same
        4. A Donor-Focused Nonprofit Has a Culture of Thankfulness
        5. A Donor-Focused Nonprofit Sees Fundraising as Part of Its Mission
    11. Appendix A: The Donor Bill of Rights and the Money-Raising Brand
    12. Appendix B: Suggested Reading for Fundraisers
    13. Index
    14. End User License Agreement

    Product information

    • Title: The Money-Raising Nonprofit Brand: Motivating Donors to Give, Give Happily, and Keep on Giving
    • Author(s): Jeff Brooks
    • Release date: March 2014
    • Publisher(s): Wiley
    • ISBN: 9781118583425