In part one of our two-part series on brand purpose, we explore what a world awash with purpose means for organisations who originally pioneered the path.
Guide Dogs, Red Cross and Cancer Council. No doubt one or more of these not-for-profit brands comes to mind if you’re asked to think about organisations that do good in the world. How about for-profit brands with purpose? Maybe Patagonia, Who Gives a Crap or Lush trip off the tongue?
Today, there are many more businesses who have plunged into the ‘purpose’ pond. The concept of purpose is no longer reserved for those traditionally perceived to be working at the heart of social change. Look around and you’ll see every business from AGL to Xero has planted purpose into the roots of their brand.
In this moment, where the worlds of profit and purpose are edging closer together, most discourse is concerned with what will transpire as purpose continues to saturate the corporate world. Yet less airtime has been left to consider what this convergence means for organisations who’ve always had good intentions.
In this purpose-led world, not-for-profit organisations are not only vying for donor dollars but facing new entrants into their purposeful domain. Often, these entrants come with bigger profiles, bigger budgets, greater awareness and more sophisticated structures. So what, if anything, can not-for-profits do to leverage their brands to help overcome this new threat? Is there a way they can harness the power of branding not only to survive but more so to thrive in this new landscape and create more sustainable impact?
Before we explore those questions, it’s worth reflecting on how we got here.
We’re a long way today from Milton Friedman’s doctrine of a world where a business’s sole responsibility was to generate profit for shareholders. While the rumblings were underway well before BlackRock CEO Larry Fink’s annual letter to CEOs in 2018, that event signalled the turning-point for purpose as Fink proclaimed to corporate America that purpose was inextricably linked to financial prosperity.
In the year that followed, 180 of the world’s biggest companies convened at the Business Roundtable and overturned three decades of convention to radically redefine the purpose of an organisation to be in service of all stakeholders, not just shareholders.
Turning our attention to the 2022 Australian Federal Election or two years of turmoil to our health and environment you can see that, now more than ever, the community is looking to corporations to clarify and commit to their social licence to operate. Indeed, research from our most recent FutureBrand Index reveals thriving brands are those that consistently translate purpose into everyday experiences, demonstrating their positive impact on individual wellbeing and driving change for good at scale.
More than 50 years on from Friedman’s seminal statement, not-for-profit organisations are facing more challenges than ever in the heartland of purpose. The pandemic has brought resourcing pressure into a harsh, new light for this sector, and the resulting financial strain is compounded by competition from every direction – both from their peers close to home, and from corporate brands more recently enlightened by the virtues of purpose.
As we look ahead, what must not-for-profit organisations do to double down on their role in delivering social value? And how might the strength of their brands help drive growth and build trust at every step of the way?
We’re under no illusion that brand is a silver bullet. We also know many of the challenges facing the purpose-led sector are systematically entrenched. However, we do know from our own research and experience that when you strengthen the link between your brand’s purpose and the everyday experience, your brand gives your organisation a measurable advantage.
Now seems like an opportune time to reflect on the journey of purpose but also to surface a series of opportunities from which others can learn. Some guiding thoughts to embrace when building a brand to sustain a not-for-profit organisation for years to come.
Up next in part two: Five practical ways not-for-profit organisations can leverage their brand to survive and thrive in a world awash with purpose.
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