I met up with Sarah Durham, the founder and CEO of Big Duck, at the AFP International Conference in Baltimore last spring.
Interview Highlights (Transcript)
Below is a brief excerpt from my time with Sarah. Watch the video for the entire interview.
What is the Rebrand Effect for nonprofits?
AE: Today we’re going to be talking about branding. Can you talk about the rebrand effect and how you came up with it?
SD: I’ve found that for years and years, nonprofits have been talking about rebranding, but there’s a murky sense of what they’re going to get from it.
I know there are a lot of good outcomes from rebranding, but I wanted to answer in a statistically valid, quantitative sense, what really happens when the typical nonprofit rebrands.
We partnered with a market research firm to conduct a national study of nonprofits that had gone through rebrands in the last 10 years. We put the results in an ebook called the Rebrand Effect (click here for a free copy).
AE: So what did the study show?
SD: The fact is, rebranding works. It works for most organizations that go through it. Over 50 percent of the organizations surveyed saw a lift in revenue, and many more said it’s too early to tell, so we’re cautiously optimistic.
Watch the full interview for more on the effect of rebranding.
When should a nonprofit to consider rebranding?
AE: How would an organization know when it’s time for a rebrand? How would they start the conversation?
SD: We see an organization starting the conversation in many ways, but sometimes it’s one staff member who feels something is stale. Often it’s a new CEO, who is a change-agent or the result of a strategic plan.
Watch the full interview for details about the best time to rebrand.
What should you say to your board?
AE: What would you say to a board that’s considering a rebrand? How do you guide that conversation?
SD: A lot of times when a board is gunning for a rebrand, it’s often reflecting a disconnect… the board doesn’t know how to talk about the organization. The question is; does the staff feel the same way?
AE: What a great way of explaining it. Can everyone at your organization tell the same story? If they can’t, you probably have a serious issue!
Watch the full interview for more about the conversation of rebranding.
How should you roll out a rebrand?
AE: Talk about how an organization should roll out a rebrand and donor’s reactions.
SD: Ask the question, who’s going to care? It’s important to manage donor’s expectations, and break your community into 3 tiers.
AE: What’s the last piece of advice you’d like to leave us with?
SD: Going through a rebrand is like renovating your home. It’s useful and it makes you feel really good, but really where you raise money is in campaigning and that’s like the parties you throw in your home.
Think of [rebranding] as the on-ramp to communicating differently.
Watch the full interview for more on how to rebrand your nonprofit.
More Great Advice from Sarah
Watch the full video above for even more great information about rebranding your nonprofit. And get more great advice from Sarah and the Big Duck team.
How about you? Are you considering a rebrand for your nonprofit? Talk about your thought process in the comments.
Our nonprofit rebranded last summer by narrowing our audience reach to be more effective, redesigning our logo to better represent ourselves and vamping up our mission statement to be reflect our work. This video was great as it included ways to disseminate this information both to your board and the public that may include your donors. Thanks for sharing!
Our foundation (Ames Public Library Friends Foundation) is in the process of re-designing our logo. We are doing it because our logo is a bit dated. The questions we are asking donors about what the Library means to them have proven to be great conversations. Your video is very helpful in seeing the bigger picture in this project. Thank you!
Sounds great, Catherine! Thanks for sharing.