The Five Functions of the Nonprofit Brand

The brand strategy and messaging frameworks that I’ve seen, studied, and used with nonprofits and businesses are all mostly the same. While the approach may differ from strategist to strategist, these frameworks typically look to define the same elements: an organization’s mission, vision, values, positioning, audiences, landscape, brand promises, personality, voice and tone, messaging pillars, and visual branding elements.

Implementing a brand strategy, however, can be challenging for organizations. These elements must be woven into the fabric of the culture, and it’s a lot of work. But it’s even more challenging for people outside the organization to understand a nonprofit solely through these brand elements by themselves. Putting them on the website or in a brand guide isn’t enough. It’s only when they are applied that they have the power to create clear and simple communications or to deliver a memorable and intentional experience.

Strategies are simply decisions until they’re acted upon. And this is why we need to examine brand strategies through a second dimension—as functions of a brand—to make it easier to apply the brand strategy across the full brand experience.

A function contains action. It serves a specific purpose. It accomplishes a task rather than being static or superficial. For example, a story’s function might be to instruct or entertain—it’s not just content or words floating in the ether. It accomplishes its purpose through carefully crafted words and imagery. Similarly, Brand Strategy is a holistic strategy with a distinct purpose. The elements of a nonprofit brand function together to communicate, teach, inspire, and connect. If they’re not seen as functions, then they’re just words in a deck and they give up all of their power.

At a high level, the five functions of a nonprofit brand are:

• Ideological Function — Builds a foundation on shared human truths
• Visionary Function — Communicates a vision for the future
• Differentiating Function — Shows why an organization is unique
• Informational Function — Teaches and communicates clearly
• Experiential Function — Creates an intentional and purposeful experience

The Ideological Function creates connections through universal human truths. It focuses on human-to-human connection and stems from an organization’s core beliefs, which are the fundamental reasons for its existence in the first place. This function can elevate our consciousness, awareness, and understanding of the world.

Many nonprofit brands mistakenly define themselves through their methods (the “how”) rather than their purpose (the “why”). Organizations exist to solve problems, not just provide services. For instance, AAPR will build more support around the belief that we can improve the quality of life for aging populations rather than focusing on tactical objectives like reducing prescription costs or protecting social security. The tactics help people know “the how,” but not “the why.”

If you find your organization is emphasizing activities over its purpose, consider these exercises:

• Apply the “Five Whys” technique. This is a familiar exercise that can go deeply and uncover numerous possibilities. Push yourself to uncover the most fundamental human truths at the core of your organization’s brand.
• Examine your core beliefs. Start with “We believe…” and expand to “We believe that all people deserve…” This simple but crucial exercise reveals how beliefs influence your words and actions, and ultimately shape your reputation.

The Visionary Function paints a clear picture of the world when your mission is succeeding. It serves as your North Star and should inspire others to join you. Your brand must create a tangible vision larger than any individual or organization, building upon the truths established through the Ideological Function.

Long-term visioning is challenging. Focusing on short-term goals or individual aspects of how an organization achieves its mission don’t create a compelling vision. The big vision should emphasize outcomes, not outputs. These outcomes can also help identify ideal partners and their roles in achieving the vision. For example, a research-focused think tank can use its bigger vision to identify and proactively build relationships with implementation partners as part of the larger system of change. Or as part of a movement.

To strengthen your organization’s vision, try these exercises:

• Complete this prompt using your vision statement: “In this world…” This helps identify concrete desired changes and long-term outcomes.
• Explore deeper questions: What does the world look like when we’re achieving our mission? How do people behave differently? How might their beliefs be different? What’s different about the world?
• Consider your role and ask: How do we directly contribute to this vision? Which partners do we need? What movements are we serving? What systems are we building?

Creating differentiation is where brand strategy is most powerful. It clearly communicates your organization’s unique value and compelling reasons for support. Brand strategy positions your organization relative to others—peers or competitors—and within the broader culture. The Differentiating Function highlights tangible, intangible, and aspirational value propositions, combining all elements to create a distinct presence in your audiences’ minds.

Blue Ocean Strategy provides an excellent framework for exploring differentiation—from philosophical approaches to external brand expressions. This strategy helps organizations create new markets by identifying underserved or unmet needs. Organizations finding significant overlap with peers can differentiate themselves by doing more of some things, less of others, or introducing completely new approaches.

To enhance differentiation, consider:

• Where do we overlap with other organizations? What common approaches do we all share?
• What could we do more of? What should we reduce? What new approaches might we introduce that would create differentiation?

The Informational Function is the most practical, and one of the hardest to get right. It tells the world what the organization does in clear and human-centered language as well as how, why, where, and who they do their work with. Nonprofits can always improve in this area.

How the brand communicates such practical information doesn’t have to be overly formal or dry. Carefully chosen words can enhance understanding of issues, positions, and brand identity. In fact, words here matter and their poetry can support a deep understanding of an issue, a position, and a brand. The key in satisfying the Informational Function is to anticipate the questions — and assumptions — that someone might make about an organization. This includes being clear about the visible and tangible work of the organization rather than assuming, for example, that all people know what advocacy means, how it happens, and what success looks like.

To explore where your communication might not be as clear as it could be, ask:

• How would a teenager understand our work? (Note that this isn’t how you explain it, it’s how they understand it.)
• How can we clearly explain our processes and the outcomes we’re looking for without relying on jargon?
• What insider knowledge do we take for granted?

This function is concerned primarily with maintaining a consistent image. It creates an intentional experience—especially about how you want people to feel and remember the organization. And it delivers this experience over and over again.

The Experiential Function is tied to every brand expression: logo, colors, typography, imagery, visual and verbal language, stories, and messaging. It takes an entire organization sharing the same understanding, rowing toward the same destination, and reinforcing the brand experience through every interaction and touchpoint.

If you’re interested in evaluating the experience your brand creates, you can explore the following exercises:

• How would people describe the experience that our organization wants to create?
• How would a young person describe our organization?
• Take an inventory of your organization’s stories, imagery, and key messages. Do they support one another or create different experiences?

As a brand strategist working with nonprofits and mission-driven organizations, these five functions help us move beyond outputs to focus on the big outcomes that are supported by the brand. They help us prioritize audiences, challenge assumptions, and stand out in an increasingly crowded sector. Together, they move Brand Strategy and messaging beyond the surface and give them greater power in helping organizations achieve their missions and reach bold visions for the future.