Nonprofit Branding: Roger Starkweather on How Your Team Is Showing Up

Nonprofit Branding: Roger Starkweather on How Your Team Is Showing Up Your brand isn't the logo. It's whether everyone around you tells the same story. Roger Starkweather is co-founder and CEO of ANEWbrand, a Seattle-born agency whose motto is branding for the greater good. He got his start in sales, selling rubber stamps door to door, and has built businesses of his own ever since, including one in construction. He and his business partner, Steven Picanza, have worked together in the agency world for fifteen years, and both have worked with SCORE, a nonprofit that mentors people starting businesses. Roger describes a project his team is working on right now that never leaves the building. The organization's own groups were arguing among themselves, so ANEWbrand came in with workshops and surveys to say what nobody inside could. Sarah connects it to the mergers she's seeing across the sector. When two people who each own a house get married, building a new one together is easier than moving into either. If your staff, board, and supporters would each describe you a little differently, start here. In this episode Why Roger calls brand guidelines an operating system, and what happens when nobody feeds it Marketing as the road brands drive down, and return on experience as a way to measure what dollars can't The internal side of a brand, when staff and volunteers need the same clarity your donors do A few ideas to apply at your nonprofit Read the top section of your homepage. Does it say why you exist before it shows a single pretty picture? Give branding and marketing its own pillar in your strategic plan, with a budget line that can stand up to it. Put Roger's question on your next team agenda: how are we showing up today? Any hesitation is worth a conversation. Resources Mentioned Connect with Roger ANEWbrand: https://www.anewbrand.co/ Email: mailto:roger@anewbrand.co Connect with Sarah Nonprofit411: https://nonprofit411.org LinkedIn:   / nonprofit411   The Generosity Roadmap, a free class: https://nonprofit411.org/generosity_map Chapters 00:00 Introduction 02:03 The hobby question 03:09 Why nonprofits, and why now 05:49 Is branding a real investment? 06:15 Your brand is an operating system 07:34 What a clear brand does for fundraising 10:12 The road brands drive down 11:38 Return on experience 14:36 Competing on a world stage 16:02 Thinking like a retailer 17:45 The biggest challenge: the budget 19:16 Evolution or revolution 20:57 Do nonprofits invest enough? 22:49 Signs it's time 25:05 When the brand problem is internal 26:18 Mergers and the new house 28:00 How am I showing up today? 29:25 Where to find Roger