Branding

In the profit making sector, branding often entails a name, slogan, logo, or a design scheme associated with the product line. In the nonprofit making sector, branding involves increasing the visibility of the organization and recognition among the target audience. The aim is to translate the favorable position into fundraising success. The nonprofit sector has limited the use of branding to the external perception of the organization, a subject of communication, and fundraising. A close investigation into the possible role of branding reveals that branding can play a more central role in the achievement of the core goals of the organization. Branding has a broader and tactical function in the core feat of a nonprofit organization.
Roles of branding in the non-profit sector
Branding the nonprofit sector is nested in the mission and strategy of an organization. Branding aims to achieve internal identity, and external image to create cohesion, and external trust. This results in the increased capacity of the organization and trust. This influences the organizations image in the public domain thereby closing the cycle.
The brand IDEA captures four principles, which are paramount in the achievement of success. These four ideas include brand integrity, brand democracy, brand ethics, brand affinity (The Hauser Center, 2012).
Brand democracy is effective when the organization trusts its members to communicate the core identity of the organization and be the organizations advocates. The organization does not exert control on hoe the image of the organization is portrayed to the public. The employees and volunteers in the organization are effective ambassadors. The rise in social media makes the issue of branding control close to impossible. Brand democracy extends beyond the boundaries of the organization to include anyone who has an interest in the organization. Brand ethics entails the deployment of the brand in a way that reflects the core values of the organization (The Hauser Center, 2012). This ensures that the brand image is in line with the brand identity and the core values and cultures of the organizations. Brand ethics plays two paramount roles, which include the establishment of the brand and the ethical use of the brand.
Brand affinity ensures the brand cooperates with the others players in the organization to develop a successful organization. The brand must cooperate with other brands in the field to create collective interest over individual interest. For a brand to achieve affinity successfully, it must attract partners and collaborators and lend values to the partners with any exploitation. Nonprofit organizations with a high brand affinity combine smoothly with others with the same interest indeed promoting the partners brands as much as the organizations brand. Brand affinity is central in the success of multi-organization movements with a common cause. An example of a nonprofit organization with worldwide recognition is the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The organization has a fifty-year-old brand embodied in a panda logo. The WWF has high brand recoganization; however, the population understands little of what the WWF is about. The WWF is availing more information of its activities to make people more aware and positive of its activities. To achieve this, the WWF has simplified its vision and mission statement. The organization has adapted an umbrella message, be the voice of those who have no voice. The organization is also building a network of external communicators to improve its brand democracy (The Hauser Center, 2012).
Conclusion
The nonprofit organization recognizes the role of brand beyond the traditional use of branding by the profit-making sector. The organizations are currently more concerned with how the trademark is aligned with the operation and values of the institution. The organizations are using branding to increase the internal cohesion within the organization and trust in the external environment the organization operates. Brand is therefore increasing the operational capacity of the organizations and driving social change.
 References
The Hauser Center. (2012). The Role of Brand in the Nonprofit Sector. New York: Rockefeller Foundation.