introduction

Much has been written on the subject of branding and its importance in attracting customers and loyal supporters for organizational sustainability. Brand building is as important for nonprofit organizations as it is for major consumer marketing companies such as Nike and Coca-Cola.

The aims of nonprofits are often of profound social benefit to their own and other communities. They generally haven’t the resources of for-profit enterprises and often don’t serve the same clients…and sometimes their most important audiences are financial donors. Both despite and because of these differences, the benefits of branding are the same for a nonprofit as for a for-profit organization: Being understood by and attractive to the people most likely to support its mission with their discretionary resources.

While the concept of brand building can be complex (discovering a brand’s essence, determining what factors comprise a compelling brand, and working to turn an organization into a great brand), in its simplest form brand is just another word for “reputation.” By better understanding the reputation Children’s Museum of Denver is striving to have—and why the concept of brand is important in the first place—everyone at the Museum will be better positioned to serve as ambassadors, and your materials will provide stronger, more unified messages that stoke support.

Your brand is not your name, logo, or graphic identity. Your brand is the sum of facts and emotions that come to the minds of your audiences when they hear or read about your organization and its activities. This means that changing perceptions takes time. Because your brand exists only in the minds of the public (it cannot be seen or touched), every single interaction with the Children’s Museum contributes to the overall impression one has about the enterprise and its value. For this reason, the Museum is wise to undertake this branding process at a critical transition time in the life of the organization, as it leverages its past success while clarifying and reinvigorating its brand with its planned expansion.