Branded in Oregon: Developing Organizational Image in the Nonprofit Sector

Abstract

Ever-increasing competition for donor dollars, volunteers and quality staff has demanded a large-scale increase in the professional practices of nonprofits. To enhance organizational effectiveness, nonprofits have been turning to business practices traditionally found in the for-profit sector. Among these practices, the formal “branding” of an organization has increased in popularity in the nonprofit sector. “Branding”—the strategic development of an organizational image around which all activities, advertising campaigns and promotional materials are centered—has long been used in the for-profit world to form an easily-referenced image in the consumer’s mind of a company or product and has been used increasingly in the nonprofit sector. For this project, marketing professionals specializing in nonprofit branding and staff members from three Oregon nonprofits that have undergone organizational branding were interviewed. The resulting case studies reveal their experiences with organizational branding as positive and that branding represents a potentially powerful tool in the operational effectiveness of a nonprofit.