Developing a brand for your organization is about finding the essence of the story of who you want to be. Brand development is a future-looking exercise at its very core. It is informed by our past and shaped by where we currently are, but its true value comes from letting our imaginations go so we can actively and consciously participate in what might be.

To shape our stories, which make up our brand, we knowingly place ourselves in the broader field of constant change. It is in this space that we shift from recreating the past to embracing and realizing an emerging future. From this place, the potential to create a brand that is met with success and not indifference is tremendous. It is here in the fertile ground of possibility that we plant the seeds of hope and, ultimately, value for our audience. Growing the future together is exactly where we can begin to build trusting and informed relationships with our communities.

So much has been written and discussed about creating brands that build trusting relationships. First of all, not everyone supporting your organization will want a “relationship” with you. Some will and some won’t and it is here that the first step of trust is created. It is created through listening; listening not so you can provide your supporters with what you think they need, but listening so your supporters get what they know they need at that particular time. Some will move in and out of a relationship with you. Others will be there every step of the way, and still others may not pass the threshold of acquaintance. Actively listening communicates the essential building block of a brand…which is trust. Nurturing this trust is like nurturing any important relationship in your life. It takes time, it takes personalization, and it takes a culture that is committed to supporting those that support you. This culture is a donor-centric culture and it is fundamental to develop if organizations wish to embrace broad constituencies in their mission.

Your supporters will follow you into the future of your brand from this established place of trust. From this place, your organization can shift its story and imagine the future. It can continue to be relevant, fresh, creative, responsive, and an active agent of change.

So when looking into the future to create your brand, here are a few questions that are important to explore when creating a brand framework:

• Who is it that I want to be?
• What value does this have for others?
• How can I communicate this to my base of support?
• What organizational shift may be necessary for this brand to evolve?
• What will happen to my brand if this change is not made?
• What inspires me about shifting my brand?

While looking into the future to imagine your brand of tomorrow may seem like a lot of work, it is far more work to sustain a story that is no longer relevant and to attempt to generate support from a brand that resonates indifference within your key communities.

“Every profound innovation is based on the inward-bound journey, on going to a deeper place where knowing comes to the surface.”
— (W. Brian Arthur, economist, Santa Fe Institute)

Looking forward into the future of your brand is an inward looking journey that will create an opportunity for your organization to surface in the future and to shape what tomorrow will look like. It is a time at which point you can continue to embrace people in your work, in your mission, and in your hope for a healthier, peaceful and just world. Your brand of the future is your story of the value of the work you do.

Pattie LaCroix has directed marketing and communications programs for nonprofits for over ten years. As vice president of Communicopia, she is passionate about creating online communications strategies for nonprofits that engage their audience and build support for their work. You can contact Pattie through www.communicopia.net.