Improve Your Non-profit's Branding with Storytelling

Non-profit organizations will generally leave branding aside, even though it is an important undertaking. This is due to the fact that non-profits work to accomplish a charitable mission and to serve their beneficiaries, whereas branding is associated with for-profit goals.

Nonetheless, non-profit branding is about defining how the world sees your work and your organization. People pay attention to organizations that are doing something different. If you want your non-profit to be recognizable, and grab people’s attention — don’t shy away from experimentation.

If you aim to become a thought leader, position yourself as a forward-thinking organization.

Utilize Storytelling

Successful non-profit branding tends to appeal to both the rational and emotional side of a person.

To convince the rational, your non-profit should be transparent in its actions, and clearly communicate with supporters and donors. You can share results on the impact you’re making, answer your supporters’ questions, and display how donation money is utilized. Use facts and data to measure your impact. Demonstrate to your supporters why the work your organization does is necessary.

Alongside the statistics and figures, effective non-profit branding has to also appeal to the emotional side and strike a positive chord for your audience. In order to do this, make sure your audience relates to your cause and can be passionate about pursuing your mission. This is how you get loyal supporters and ambassadors.

Storytelling is one of the most powerful tools for building your non-profit brand. Storytelling can be used to connect with the rational as well as the emotional. Use it to highlight your work by showing the challenges your beneficiaries or your non-profit are facing. You will build meaningful relationships with your audience, gain credibility, and get your non-profit to stand out.

Here are three quick storytelling tips for your non-profit organization:

• Share authentic stories about and around your work. People can easily spot a sales pitch and a genuine story.
• Create stories in different formats. Utilize today’s available tools from infographics, to videos, gifs or live video streaming to convey your message.
• Centre your story on a character. The main protagonist will usually be a beneficiary of your organization. People relate to individuals much easier than to abstract concepts or large groups of people. Give your story life with a central character.