Every successful nonprofit is a brand.

Just think of the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army, or the March of Dimes. These great iconic nonprofits are so well branded that when you think of each of them, the very name calls up a host of associations, memories, positive feelings, and the satisfaction that you know them. Branding is not marketing and advertising (although both of those activities will help your brand). Branding is about selling everything associated with your organization. Larry Checco, a consultant to nonprofits, says that any organization can use branding to create visibility and convince supporters of the organization's value. In Checco's book, Branding for Success: A Roadmap for Raising the Visibility and Value of Your Nonprofit Organization, he provides a five-step process that will move an organization toward successful branding: 1. Conduct a SWOT analysis. SWOT is an acronym for strength, weaknesses, opportunities, and external threats. Checco

suggests that participants in your SWOT analysis should be from every level of your organization. Include a rep from your board, executive staff, management, operations, and support staff. Questions that you might use for each part of your SWOT analysis could include:

Strengths - What do we do best? How do we want our target audiences to view us? What distinguishes us from our competition? Weaknesses - In what ways do we have trouble clearly explaining to people outside our field what we do? How much does our board know about branding, and how effective will members be in promoting and protecting our brand? Opportunities - Can we identify an expanding market for our products and services? What is the current economic landscape of our community? Threats - Are there external factors that would prohibit our organization from promoting our brand? Who are our competitors? How much do we know about them?

2. Review your SWOT analysis for brand messaging opportunities. What have you learned about who you are, what you do, how you do it, and why anyone should care? 3. Determine what messages your audiences want or need to hear. Sometimes you learn that what you might want to say about your organization is not what your audiences want to hear. An example that Checco uses in his book is of affordable housing. For years, proponents of such housing emphasized the needs of the people being served. But audiences did not like the idea of "subsidized" housing for "needy" people in their communities. When the message was changed to emphasize the positive impact such housing would have such as tax benefits, shoppers to help maintain a downtown, or diversity in the schools, such housing became much more palatable to communities.

To complete this step, you will need to survey a representative number of your audience and/or conduct a focus group. 4. Create a "messaging package." A message package includes such things as a tagline, a mission statement, a positioning statement, supporting statements, and a logo. As Checco says, A 'messaging package' is simply a compilation of the core messages you want your brand to convey. Its purpose is to help you stay on message whenever you communicate information about your organization. 5. Before finalizing your message package, go back to your focus group. Get real reactions from real people to your messages. This step is absolutely necessary to make sure that words or messages you have picked mean what you think they mean to your audience. Unless you want a nasty surprise later, test your messages. Checco goes into detail about all of these elements as well as how to define, promote, and

protect your brand. Get the book...it is the easiest-to-read and most accessible one we have seen about branding. Checco believes every nonprofit can achieve successful branding and he lays out a program to achieve it that anyone can pursue.

n Harness the Power of an Advisory Board I say that advisory boards are such a powerful management tool that no small business should be without one and describe creating an advisory board. Since writing that article, I've received a fair bit of mail asking for more details. Creating an advisory board, the writers agree, is a great idea - but how do you persuade people to serve on your small business advisory board? The key is to remember your basic rule of selling and focus on how they will benefit by serving on your advisory board rather than how you will benefit. After all, you want their time and expertise. It's only human nature for a prospective advisory board member to want to know what he or she gets out of the bargain. So once you've chosen prospective members for your small business advisory board, the next step to creating an advisory board is to craft invitations that focus on the benefits of serving on your board. As much as possible, try to personalize your advisory board invitation by emphasizing the benefits that might appeal most to that particular individual.

Intrinsic benefits might include:

Extending their circle of contacts and perhaps developing new business Getting new perspectives and ideas Contributing to the development of a particular profession or industry Discovering new potential customers or allies Personal satisfaction of helping to steer a company to success Prestige or resume building

The main external benefit is compensation and how you will compensate the prospective board member has to be part of your pitch as well. Compensation might take the form of:

Providing food and drink during and before or after an advisory board meeting (lunch or dinner) Covering expenses Cash an honorarium or a fee paid per meeting Stock options

The most common form of compensation is probably some combination of the above. When you're creating your advisory board and trying to persuade people to serve, don't be afraid to up the ante for particular prospects. Some board members will be more valuable than others and you dont have to compensate them all the same. So think carefully about each of the prospective advisory board members you have chosen and decide what each one would view as the best or most important benefits for serving on your board. These are what your advisory board invitation needs to focus on. You don't need to put together a huge package of materials to try and persuade someone that serving on your small business advisory board would be a good thing. A single sales letter is a much better approach. It can lay out exactly what prospects want to know without taking up too much of their time. Chances are good the people youd like to have on your board are already busy people! Besides laying out the benefits, your advisory board invitation letter also needs to include:

a brief overview of the company; the advisory board's mandate and focus; the responsibility of the advisors and the time commitment expected (how often the board will meet and for how long).

In closing, restate why you think the person would be a great addition to the board and what specific contribution he or she could make. Don't forget to mention that you will follow up soon with a phone call and give your contact information in case he or she has any questions in the meantime. You may find it easier to use this sample advisory board invitation letter as a template. Last advice: You already know that when you're creating an advisory board, you want to select "the brightest and best" with a diverse range of skills and experience. Obviously, the more experienced and knowledgeable your board members, the better the advice your advisory board will produce. So don't be afraid to ask people who may seem to be out of your sphere to serve. The worst thing that will happen is that they will say "No". Rejection costs nothing.

The Mercifully Brief Real World Guide to Attracting the Attention Your Cause Deserves, Joseph Barbato. Emerson & Church, ISBN 1889102-06-7, $24.95 U.S. So many nonprofits do a lousy job of publicizing their work. In fact, the news media are a bit leery when a nonprofit calls because they have been buzzed so often with weak story pitches and badly written news releases. Even if your organization is struggling, and there are so many more important priorities than hiring a good pitch man or woman, there is help in Joseph Barbato's easy-to-read and practical Attracting the Attention Your Cause Deserves. Barbato has been a journalist and a pitch man for nonprofits. As a consultant, he now works with several prominent nonprofit organizations to help hone their messages and direct them intelligently. Barbato's book is simple and to the point. No fancy PR language or communications theory here...just quick, practical advice that anyone on

your staff, even if they are not trained in PR, can follow. For example, Barbato provides these tips for an effective pitch to a reporter:

Keep your pitch tight, bright, and to the point. Make your first sentence count. The reporter may not read the second. Have your facts straight. Don't call several reporters at one media outlet to pitch the same story. If your key contact isn't interested, ask who else you might call. If you do pitch another reporter at the same place, let each know you have pitched the other. Be confident. You're doing a newsperson a favor by offering a story that readers or viewers will want.

Just as important as what you should do with the media, are the things you shouldn't do. Here are a few of Barbato's pet peeves:

Don't call a reporter when you know he is on deadline. It will annoy him.

Don't call to ask whether a reporter received your press release. Better to simply pitch your story and while doing so remind him of the release. Don't tell a reporter he's making a big mistake by not covering your event. Don't treat a journalist like a good buddy. Never call him to say hi and chat. Don't make an unnewsworthy announcement because a board member has urged you to do so. Instead, use the occasion to educate your board member (ever so diplomatically) on the meaning of news and the importance of acting like a professional with the media.

Barbato includes an appendix that contains a sample pitch letter and several useful checklists. Attracting the Attention Your Cause Deserve is part of Emerson and Church's line of delightfully handy guides called, The Mercifully Brief Real World Guide to.... This guide is only ninety-four pages long plus a short appendix, and the text is surrounded by lots of space for your notes which you will want to make as you read.

Such a light book is perfect for throwing into your bag and reading at the bus stop or on your coffee break. By now you may already have started a collection of these Real World Guides, so make this one your next

Nonprofit/For-Profit Hybrid: Low-Profit Limited Liability Company (L3C)

A Hybrid Organization for Social Good
By Joanne Fritz, About.com Guide

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L3C organizations are a new way to fulfill a social mission. A hybrid of a nonprofit and forprofit corporation, the L3C is run in a similar way to a for-profit company, but is like a nonprofit in that its mission is to do something for the social good. An L3C generates a profit but it isn't the sole priority. It is not tax-exempt, but it can seek investors and investments that are program related for funding. The IRS does restrict how much profit an L3C can make and property it can own. Also, this hybird organization cannot

engage in political work or lobbying. The organization must make clear that fulfilling a charitable goal is the primary reason it exists. This new type of nonprofit organization is recognized by the states of Vermont, Michigan, Illinois, Wyoming, and Utah; while North Carolina and Maine are in the process of finalizing legislation recognizing it; and many other states are considering it. For more information on this form of organization and other types of social enterprises, visit theSocial Enterprise Alliance, Social Returns, and theRoberts Enterprise Development Fund. TheFoundation Center also has great information on social enterprise.