1. Remember what you believe and tell everyone

At the heart of a strong brand are strong beliefs. Too many organisations were founded on strong beliefs and then they cover them up and let them grow mouldy. So take the time in 2010 to make those implicit beliefs explicit. Beliefs are important because they are also what inspire people. People join a cause because they share a desire to do something and they believe your organisation can make the difference.

nfpSynergy is regularly commissioned to conduct communications research for a wide range of our not for profit or public sector clients, and often directly by a creative agency working for a charity. We have seen many times how valuable it can be in helping a campaign to fulfil its potential and ultimately help an organisation to meet its objectives.

Once upon a time (well about ten years ago) awareness building was relatively simple. If you wanted to increase awareness you either had to spend money on TV or print advertising or be very good at doing the things that the media wanted to cover. Now things are very different. The age of the internet and the changing culture that it brings with it affect the way that every charity can build awareness.

Not every charity can spend millions of pounds on awareness advertising to boost its awareness. However every organisation can integrate its communications at minimal cost in order to maximise the impact of its message. Integration can be done at the tactical level or the strategic level. There are two broad ways in which an organisation can integrate at a strategic level.

Exercise 1 – Meet and greet each other

The first exercise is very simple. Get everybody to introduce themselves to each other and explain simply and succinctly who the organisation is that they work for. The idea is to get across in two or three sentences about the organisation, its work and what makes it special. In other words they need to introduce themselves by putting across the brand very clearly. Once the group has spent 10 or so minutes doing this and has moved on two or three times, stop the exercise and ask people how they found it and what worked and what was hard.

Chief Executives play a vital role in creating awareness – yet all too often they are bystanders in the awareness process. It is interesting that in the commercial sector most CEOs would see themselves as the guardians of their brand (of which awareness-building is the first step) yet in the charity sector most CEOs are at best neutral and often hostile to branding and, by inference, to awareness-building.

“Fantastic opportunity for courageous charities to respond to this public plea”, rallies nfpSynergy’s Baker

The public are keener than ever for charities to be 'supportive', 'sympathetic' and 'responsive', now that the UK has entered recession, according to new data out today: demands that pose an interesting challenge to an already struggling third sector.

It is three years now since we published 'Polishing the Diamond' in the autumn of 2002, and it remains one of our most popular reports.For this reason we decided to pull together a series of branding case studies from across the sector.

This updated report is a must-read for everyone who is interested in charity branding. It looks at how to create a strong, belief-based brand for voluntary sector organisations. The report examines the hierarchy of motivations that affect charity donors, and sets out the three steps to creating and delivering strong brand values for your organisation.

Not for profit think-tank nfpSynergy has teamed up with The ImpACT Coalition to produce a free, short, practical report and guide that will empower charities to formulate and communicate simple messages, including pithy pub facts, needed to dispel a range of debilitating misperceptions their stakeholders may have, both about themselves and the wider third sector.