Nathalie Laidler-Kylander - The Brand IDEA: Managing Nonprofit Brands with Integrity, Democracy, and Affinity

Table of Contents

Praise for The BrandIDEA

The Brand IDEA is an insightful articulation of the centrality of brand and brand management in the nonprofit sector. Any organization that depends on partnerships, stakeholders, governments, employees, donors or any other type of relationship, should manage its brand proactively. The Brand IDEA is a much-needed and valuable resource for all who work in the nonprofit sector.

Rob Garris, managing director, Rockefeller Foundation

Strategic and thoughtful, this work establishes a provocative branding framework for nonprofit organizations in a challenging social media world. It makes the powerful case, and offers a clear road map, for identity alignment that is stakeholder-centered and mission-driven.

Ray Offenheiser, president, Oxfam America

Rich with examples from a multitude of nonprofit organizations, the authors make a profound case for why brand is integrally linked with the nonprofit mission. Turn to Chapter 8 for practical tools to build a strong brand and manage your brand integrity, democracy and affinity (IDEA) on behalf of your organization. It's an important resource for any nonprofit manager.

Tanya Giovacchini, partner, chief engagement and marketing officer, The Bridgespan Group

For more testimonials and information visit www.nonprofitbrandidea.com

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Laidler-Kylander, Nathalie.

The brand IDEA : managing nonprofit brands with integrity, democracy, and affinity / Nathalie Laidler-Kylander, Julia Shepard Stenzel. First edition.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-118-55583-5 (cloth); ISBN 978-1-118-57330-3 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-57340-2 (ebk)

1. Nonprofit organizationsManagement. 2. Nonprofit organizationsMarketing. I. Stenzel, Julia Shepard. II. Title.

HD62.6.L35 2013

658'.048dc23

2013030361

List of Figures, Tables, and Exhibits

Foreword

This book stands at the intersection of several debates animating the nonprofit sector around the world. Among them: should nonprofit organizations spend precious charitable funds on managing their brands, or are those expenses wasteful vanity? Does the rise of social media mean that everyone must be allowed to speak for an organization in his or her own way, or does it make policing the brand more important than ever? Is nonprofit strategy fundamentally distinct from for-profit strategy, or is that distinction out-of-date? To all three questions, this book answers yes to the initial proposition: nonprofits should invest in their brand, abandon the notion of policing their brand, and question the assumptions underlying for-profit strategy tools before applying them to their organization. Agree or not, you will quickly see that much more is at stake here than an organization's name, logo, or even communications strategy. This book goes to the very essence of what defines a nonprofit organization.

For the purposes of this brief foreword, the brand of a nonprofit might be roughly defined as the mental impression people have of the organization: the promises it makes to its clients, collaborators, or supporters and their expectations about the quality of work or the experience it provides. Those promises and expectations are evoked by the names, logos, slogans, and other communication devices used by organizations, movements, and individualsfor example, political candidatesto differentiate themselves from others. Such outward manifestations of brand are now visible in practically every inhabited place and communication vehicle on the planet.