A Blast From the Past: Branding, Fundraising Living in Harmony (July 2011)

FundRaising Success published its first issue in November 2003, making this our 10-year anniversary year. To celebrate, we're running stories from past issues throughout the year.

Here's how it goes: The brand expert says the fundraising campaigns that generate most of your organization's revenue are "undermining the brand." More precisely, fundraising messages don't use the right fonts, aren't faithful to the color pallet and fail to focus on the Statement of Brand Personality. All in all, the corny, old-fashioned messiness and specificity of fundraising are dragging down the brand.

At this point, if you're lucky and/or there are smart people with clout in your organization, you test your fundraising against brand-compliant fundraising. You know, the pretty colors, modern design and complete alignment with the abstract values articulated by the brand experts. This soon reveals the scope of the financial catastrophe that awaits if you follow the brand experts. So you stop listening to them.

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