5 ways to nail your nonprofit branding

As the saying goes, a brand is a promise—a promise on what your supporters can expect every time they interact with your organization. And the more you can deliver on that promise, the stronger you can expect your brand recognition—and donor base—to grow.

Keep reading to learn about the benefits of branding for nonprofits, along with best practices for brand strategy, guidelines, and tools to make branding easier than ever. 

Key takeaways

• Not just a for-profit strategy ✨ Branding is a powerful tool for nonprofits, too 
• Build a brand, build trust 🤩 Strive for consistency in messaging, tone, and visuals
• Start with the basics 👉 Your mission and values set the foundation for your brand
• Know who you’re speaking to 🗣️ Target audiences drive your tone
• Don’t discount the visuals 🎨 Be intentional about logos, colors, fonts, and imagery
• There’s a butter way to brand 💛 Givebutter offers smooth branding across fundraising pages, donation forms, events, emails, and more

Why should nonprofits care about branding?

While developing a “brand” might not be at the top of a busy nonprofit’s to-do list, branding plays an important role in building trust and belonging with supporters, volunteers, funders, and beyond. 

In nonprofit marketing, a consistent brand identity helps organizations strengthen and streamline their core messaging, visual representation, and tone of voice across internal and external communication channels.

For example, if your website looks, feels, and sounds completely different from your fundraising campaign landing page or donation form, potential donors and sponsors may feel distrustful and, in turn, less likely to contribute. 

5 elements to include in a nonprofit branding identity (and how to implement them)

A strong nonprofit brand can make your organization more recognizable and, therefore, more trustworthy among your target audience. To help deliver brand consistency across all marketing materials, you need to develop a style guide.

A brand style guide is more about colors and logos—you will need to develop a distinct tone, personality, and values across your organization. The following five elements encompass what every successful nonprofit should include in its brand identity, along with the tools you'll need to bring them to life.

1. Mission statement and values 💕

Your organization's mission and values statements provide the foundation of your brand identity. 

Your mission explains why your organization exists and what problems you are trying to solve. The core values serve as the guiding principles for how you conduct yourself as an organization, such as who you partner with, how you make decisions, and what initiatives you prioritize. 

If you asked everyone in your organization to give a two-sentence pitch on your nonprofit, would you arrive at 30 different answers? That's a key indicator you need more consistent messaging.

Both branding elements should be proudly presented on your website, in fundraising campaigns, in your annual report, in brochures, and on social media. Make it easy for supporters to understand who you are and what you’re trying to accomplish. For example: 

• Website: List your mission statement on your homepage and about page, so potential supporters know how their donations will be spent. 
• Fundraising platform: Feature your mission statement and values in your campaign story and any videos you produce so supporters understand how you’re working to improve the community.

2. Target audience 👯

To develop a successful marketing strategy, you need to understand who you are speaking to. Typically, you will have more than one target audience, each with different connections with your nonprofit organization. For example, three distinct audiences might be donors, volunteers and staff members, and beneficiaries (individuals directly impacted/benefiting from your organization).

To speak to these distinct audiences, leverage these tools:

• Segmentation: With Givebutter's marketing tools, you can build donor segments to deliver distinct messages to three different audiences while staying on brand.
• Personalization: You can deliver personalized messages at scale by using merge fields to tailor each deliverable to the individual.

3. Tone and voice 📣

By dialing into your tone and voice, you allow your personality to really shine through your organization's brand.

Having a consistent branding guide can help determine which angle best represents your organization and is most appropriate for your audience. Are you a fun brand, prone to the occasional pun? Are you strong and bold, not afraid to write a few snarky social media captions? Or do you keep things more straightforward and heartfelt?

Understanding your tone and voice helps arrive at a distinct "language" for your organization. It helps determine whether you’ll write in a quirky, fun way (with plenty of emojis to boot) or whether you need more direct, black-and-white copy. 

You can deliver your own brand voice in any number of ways, including:

• Your fundraising page: If your organization wants to ignite excitement and celebration, add emojis, GIFs, and drawings to your supporter feed.
• Text messages: If your new brand is more casual in its communication, you might find that certain channels—like texting—are more efficient than others. Leverage outbound text blasts through Givebutter Plus to engage your supporters via SMS.

4. Color palette and typography 🎨

To help deliver brand cohesion across all channels, you'll need to include fonts and a color palette in your style guide.

Colors and typography are used in all aspects of graphic design, including infographics, social media posts, newsletter header templates, and your website. If you want loyal and potential donors to recognize your brand, you'll need to arrive at a consistent visual identity. 

Fortunately, Givebutter makes it easy to implement these branding elements:

• Canva integration: Even if you don't have an in-house graphic design team, you can create custom graphics using your branded color palette, photos, and typography with Canva, without leaving your Givebutter dashboard! 
• Modern emails: Givebutter’s free email marketing feature makes it easy to create eye-catching, branded campaign updates, newsletters, and donor messages without writing a single line of code.

5. Logo and imagery 📸

Finally, every rebrand should include clear instructions on how to use your organization's logo, and which type(s) of imagery are best suited for your audience. 

Logo size and style should never be modified by staff members, but will typically be available in multiple formats (such as an icon for your site title, a circular or compressed version for social media, or a horizontal logo for your nonprofit website). 

Are you a playful organization that enjoys adding GIFs to blog posts and illustrations in social media posts? Or do you prefer a more serious tone, and therefore stick to stock photography or original photographs?

In addition, you'll need to list strict instructions for what to look for in stock imagery (such as whether to include illustrations or photographs, and how to incorporate diversity in your visuals).

With Givebutter, you can include imagery across a number of different nonprofit marketing mediums, such as:

• Video: You can embed a brand video right on your fundraising page, in emails, or send personalized videos directly to supporters.
• Social media: With one-click sharing and a powerful Meta fundraising integration, your branded campaigns will pop on social—and bring in more funds than ever.

Develop a strong nonprofit brand experience with Givebutter 

A strong brand can help strengthen trust amongst your supporter base, thereby getting you one step closer to your fundraising goal. To develop a strong brand, you need a brand style guide to guide decisions with your team. In addition, you'll need to provide strict guidelines for visuals, including typography, imagery, and colors.

​Fortunately, Givebutter has the tools you need to deliver a strong brand amongst supporters. Givebutter is the all-in-one, modern fundraising platform that helps ignite the changemaker in all of us. With Givebutter, you get a fundraising platform, nonprofit CRM, and marketing features to deliver a cohesive brand experience.

Ready to see how Givebutter can elevate your brand? Create your free account and get started today! 

Frequently asked questions about branding for nonprofits

Does a nonprofit really need a brand, or is that just for corporations?

Think of your brand as your reputation, not just a logo. While corporations brand to drive profit, nonprofits brand to build trust and visibility. A strong brand makes it easier for donors to find you, volunteers to trust you, and the community to understand the specific impact you’re making. 

Can nonprofits still build a professional brand with a small budget?

Yes! Branding isn't about expensive Super Bowl ads—it’s about consistency. You can build a powerful brand by choosing a simple color palette, a clear tone of voice, and a standard logo placement that you use across every email, flyer, and social post. Clarity and repetition are free, and they often carry more weight than a flashy, high-cost rebrand.

How do we know if it’s time to "rebrand" or just "refresh"?

A refresh (updating colors or modernizing a logo) is great if your look feels dated but your mission remains the same. A full rebrand is necessary if your organization’s mission has shifted, if your current name is misleading, or if you are struggling to connect with your target audience. If people constantly misunderstand what you do, it’s time to think about a full rebrand.