Brandraising: How Nonprofits Raise Visibility and Money Through Smart Communications

In Brandraising author Sarah Durham has adapted the core principals of corporate branding to apply specifically to nonprofit organizations and their communication and fund raising efforts. Her topic is particularly timely today, given that nonprofits are finding it increasingly difficult to raise money in the current economic climate.

The key concept here is that a clear strategy and distinctive organization identity must underlie every successful fund raising initiative. And, much like a barn raising on the frontier, the cooperation of everyone in a nonprofit group is required for success. Orchestrated collaboration, according to Durham, is what nonprofit branding is all about, and to highlight this connection she has coined the term “brandraising.”

Durham advocates a three-tiered approach to nonprofit branding. Contrary to popular assumptions, branding is far more than an alluring logo or a clever tag line. It starts at the organization level with basic strategy. This is where the leadership takes time to consider the vision of the nonprofit, its mission, values, audiences and objectives. This stage is followed by the identity level, which includes the pieces that are most often associated with branding – the organization’s visual identity and messages. The most tactical stage, which Durham calls the experiential level, defines the venues through which an organization interacts with its audiences, or customers. This includes online communication channels such as Facebook, mobile platforms available through smart phones, and traditional print, broadcast and in-person avenues.

Brandraising explains in detail how each of these levels is achieved, as well as how a new organizational identity is launched and maintained. It also acknowledges that some nonprofits will experience challenges associated with limited resources, and suggests ways to address them.

Overall this is a very good handbook that will provide thoughtful readers with a solid understanding of the strategic processes of nonprofit branding and communications. Depending on the resources, talents and inclinations of some organization leaders, it can also serve as a reliable guide to a do-it-yourself branding strategy that makes sense for the nonprofit sector.

Rating: 5 / 5

This is a book that is long overdue in the nonprofit sector. Sarah is an expert voice in the nonprofit marketing community and has captured and organized every major concept you need to understand. Even if you are a seasoned pro, you will find this book valuable and if you are looking to gain understanding about the right way to go about marketing communication and Brandraising for a nonprofit, than look no further. You will go back to this book over and over to remind yourself to take the long view and really learn best practices for developing audience-centered marketing communication that will raise awareness, connect with donors and funders, and inspire action. Sarah does a great job at explaining what the core organization levels of marketing are and then connects them to visual identity, messaging, and the forms that communication take online, in print, mobile-you get the picture. So if you want it all in plain simple English and you think that branding does not apply to nonprofits, well get ready to have your eyes opened.
Rating: 5 / 5

This is the book I wish I had written on how nonprofits can manage branding to help their organizations succeed! It should be required reading for all nonprofit professionals, regardless of job title, because it clearly and simply explains the importance of branding. Often a confounding subject for nonprofit leaders to master, the author makes the concept easy to understand and, more importantly, gives practical advice for how to manage a branding process. I have made this required reading for my nonprofit management graduate students, and will recommend it to our clients at Mission Minded as well.
Rating: 5 / 5

I’ve been in the advertising and marketing fields for years and now work in development at a non-profit. I am familiar with the concepts Sarah Durham outlines in her book, but she does such a great job explaining them that I found myself turning down pages throughout the book so I could return to specific sections. Very informative and easy to understand. Brandraising does a terrific job demystifying marketing concepts to people in the non-profit world who are skepical of the for-profit world of advertising.
Rating: 5 / 5

There are many “experts” on branding and a fair number on non-profits. What Sarah brings to the table, though, is a true insider’s perspective on marketing principles as applied to the non-profit world, and there are precious few of those experts.

Imagine interviewing Sarah and another expert on branding, and posing questions about what we need to know about branding as a non-profit. But then ask Sarah to rattle off several dozen principles of “brand-raising” as applied to non-profits, and you’ll immediately get the idea that she’s been a fly on the wall in your conference room, at committee meetings, and at fundraising brainstorming sessions you might have. Instantly you’ll know that she knows what she’s talking about.

I’ve seen Sarah in action and readers are lucky to be able to get inside her head even in this brief way.
Rating: 5 / 5