Real nonprofit leaders talk about expectations and outcomes from their rebranding projects — By Deroy Peraza Let’s be real: Branding is expensive. On average, our team puts between 750 and 1,500 hours of work into every branding project we undertake for our nonprofit clients, and the collective group of people representing our client also invests hundreds of hours participating in the process. …

Your leadership team uses visionary language to describe your work; your staff should share that vocabulary, too. — By Sruthi Sadhujan In a recent branding project, we surveyed the entire organization on communication challenges. Specifically, we asked, “What do you struggle with the most when communicating with outside audiences.” Amongst all the responses, we stumbled across a response from an individual in the middle layers of the organization.

Brand strategy results from synthesizing, distilling, and pruning to get down to a foundational idea. So how do you know when you’ve landed on the ideal strategy? — By Sruthi Sadhujan Your nonprofit organization embodies so many elements: programs, initiatives, issues, teams, passions. And it has so many stakeholders: funders, clients, staffers, partners, community leaders. You’re a lot of things to a lot of people.

It’s tempting to look at consumer brands for inspiration when creating a brand for your organization. But are they really a reflection of who you are? — By Deroy Peraza One of the things we love about working with nonprofits is that when we talk with our clients, regardless of their rank within their organization, they convey passion and pride for the work they do. In the commercial space, this kind of enthusiasm is generally reserved to…

How to develop a Grade A brand that distills your organization’s pure authenticity — By Deroy Peraza There are cheaper, faster shortcuts for everything. But the real question is: Are they worth the tradeoff? I’m a big fan of metaphors and I have a serious sweet tooth, so I’m going to bring those two loves together to make my point a little tastier. I…

The public often has an incomplete or inaccurate view of your organization. Building a strong brand lets you define that narrative. — By Sruthi Sadhujan “Our work speaks for itself.” It’s a common mindset among nonprofit leaders. Everything, from fundraising to recruiting to programming, is focused on activating the mission. But letting your work speak for your organization is risky — because the work itself is technical, opaque, full of jargon. Often…

I realize that, coming from a branding studio, this sounds like a slightly cynical, mostly rhetorical question, but hear me out. The answer might not be what you expect. — By Deroy Peraza Rebranding — which can include updating your positioning, messaging, visual identity, website and more — is a big investment of time and capital. To the outside world, it signals an intention to mark a new moment in your organization’s history and to be perceived differently. When done…

A shout out of support to the amazing people we worked with in 2021 who are dedicated to building a more equitable and just society — As we approach the end of 2021, it’s time to take a step back and express our gratitude. It was another difficult year for everyone, but we are so thankful for and so inspired by our clients. They are truly heroic people who work day in and day out to…

Crafting a Values-first Story to Create a Deeper Connection with Donors — By Laura Staugaitis This article was originally published on Charity Navigator. While working with purpose-driven organizations on branding and storytelling for the last twenty years here at Hyperakt, we’ve learned a lot about what lights a fire in nonprofit audiences. …