Wednesday 19 November 2014

Non-Profit Identity Building

New charities and non-profit organisations are being established across the globe every day. Even if you have the passion and drive required to create one for yourself, you may still need a few pointers on where to start. One of the first things that will need to be considered are the legal and administrative sides of the process. This is something that Chapel and York provide training and support with. However, just as important as the paperwork side of things is building the brand identity for your organisation.

This is where your charity will come to life. Choosing a name is one of the most important steps you will take towards the success of your brand. (Whilst charities aren't necessarily the traditional "brand" that thinks in terms of profits and expansion, the identity of your organisation is still as crucial in influencing your success.) Here are some examples of names taken from charities we've worked with in the past:


- You could go for a descriptive, self explanatory name like Breast Cancer Care. This will leave no one doubting what it is your charity is aiming for. The logo for your brand may evolve over time but once you've chosen a name you should stick with it.

- You could go for an acronym. This is a clever tool if your chosen title is too long to be considered concise or eye catching. However, acronyms can be difficult for newly established organisations simply because people won't know what the letters stand for. The easy solution to this issue is to always have the acronym alongside a description of the charity wherever it's printed, at least until you have established yourself in relation to the name.

When naming your brand you should think about what you want to communicate about your identity. This is something you could enlist the help of a professional with, but if you choose to go it alone then a good place to start would be to focus on some ideas and main elements of your organisation and its ideology. 

A good step when establishing your brand, without spending too much money, will be via social media. Choosing which social media platforms to use will vary vastly depending on the type of non-profit you are setting up. You can get a brief idea of the different kinds of social media, and what they're used for, in this informative blog post. Depending on whether your charity relies more on visual content or text you may want to create accounts with some social media sites but not others. This process ties in nicely with naming your organisation because seeing the title as a Twitter handle or Blogger page will help it materialise for you and for your audience!

Helpful links:
Entrepreneur.com - How to name a business 
Nonprofitquarterly.org - How Nonprofits Use Social Media to Engage with their Communities


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