5 Essential Tips for Branding Your Fundraiser
Did you know branding isn’t just for businesses? Your fundraiser needs to have a strong brand with a clear voice to gain traction with potential donors. Whether you’re a business trying to fundraise on behalf of a nonprofit close to your company’s mission or a new nonprofit organization, follow these five tips to ensure that your fundraiser is well branded and ready for success.
1. Finding Your Voice
To define your brand, think about how you want people to perceive your organization. Choosing the right colors and tone can be as important as having a great logo design.
If you want to know if you are on the right track with branding, ask yourself: “What does my brand say?” If it says something generic like “We do good work” or “We give kids what they need,” then you still have some work ahead of you. If your brand can describe who you are and what sets you apart from other similar organizations, then it will speak volumes about who you are as an organization.
2. Using the Right Words
There are a few important ideas to keep in mind when composing messages for your organization. Avoid using words that are condescending or patronizing, and instead, use ones that reflect an aspirational mindset.
You want your target audience to feel like they can relate to the words you're using, so be sure to choose terms that are specific and relevant. Be clear and concise—nobody likes wading through a bunch of unnecessary details when they're just trying to get the gist of something. And most importantly, use words that are actionable and positive—you want your audience to be inspired after reading your message!
3. Communicating With Your Audience
You can have the best cause in the world, but if you don’t understand who will be interested in supporting it, you’re not going to raise much money. So, who is your audience? How old are they? What kinds of things do they like to do? How much money do they make (it’s estimated that most people making $10,000-$99,999 will give 5% of their income)? How and where do they like to be communicated with?
These questions may seem a little daunting at first glance. But once you start digging into them with your fundraiser planning team (and maybe a few friendly supporters), you should begin to see some patterns emerge.
4. Choosing the Right Images & Videos
You've chosen the right name, a heartwarming mission statement, and a striking color scheme. Now you need to find images and videos that will amplify your message. It's important to choose the right images and videos because they reflect the culture of your organization which supports your brand identity. Here's how to do it:
How to find free images:
- Search Creative Commons for free, high-quality images that are allowed for commercial use.
- Search Google Advanced Search for usage rights labeled as "free to use or share." Click on "Search Tools" below the search bar, then click on "Usage Rights" and select "labeled for reuse with modification."
- Find public domain photographs on Wikimedia Commons or Flickr Commons. Public domain is a copyright status that indicates that “no permission is needed” for any purpose (commercial or non-commercial). Images in the public domain are not subject to copyright protection in the United States by default because they have fallen into the public domain because their copyright has expired or they were never eligible for copyright in the first place (for example – work of U.S. Government employees).
How to find free videos:
- YouTube has a library of Creative Commons videos available! From YouTube's Help Page: “Creative Commons lets you legally use “some rights reserved” music, movies, images, and other content — all for free.” These CC license types allow creators let others know what they can and cannot do with their works when using them outside of YouTube (reuse them commercially; change them; share them with others). Your options may vary depending on where you live though - so keep that in mind as well when clicking through these various links! In some cases it will be better/worse/different depending upon where it is being used from/to ... but still worth checking out regardless of your location.
5. Creating a Style Guide
By now, you have a great logo and have figured out which colors, fonts and images best represent your organization. But how can you make sure that the design elements you’ve chosen are consistently and correctly used on all of your materials? The answer is to create a brand style guide. This guide will help set standards for the creation of all printed or digital marketing materials related to your organization.
A brand style guide is also known as a brand book. It is an official document that includes instructions on how to use your logo and other graphic elements in order to present a consistent look and feel across all media platforms related to your organization.
4giving makes branding your fundraiser easy
With 4giving.com, branding your fundraiser has never been easier. Through 4giving’s unique fundraising platform, you can add your logo, custom photos and videos, and format your page to best fit your fundraising needs.
Have questions about branding your fundraiser? Our expert 4gving team members are here to help!