New brand v. existing donors: You talkin' to me?
File under: Institutional re-branding? Gift or goblin?
"Your weird new corporate brand matters to me ... WHY?"
Branding v. Donors
Brand-marketing and fundraising have different languages, different target audiences, different (though similar) goals (i.e., higher response rates).
BRAND audiences tend to be a risk-averse, forward-hoping board and the attached C-level leadership. They will pay handsomely for a reputable (a.k.a., expensive, big-city) firm to step in and manage the re-branding process: focus groups, sparkly briefings, blah blah blah.
Here's the rub, for fundraisers....
DONOR target audiences are different. They don't care about your spiffy new corporate logo or your funny new corporate brand name. DONOR target audiences care about what they know personally ... through the lens of their lived experiences.
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We recently enjoyed exploratory calls with a hospital foundation. This foundation capably handles vital fundraising activities (from major gifts to direct mail to events) for a multi-billion-dollar system of nonprofit healthcare enterprises let's just say "somewhere in America."
And WHAT a story we heard about branding v. fundraising....
Gather around, readers. Burn this into your thinking....
Here's the back story: Five years ago, for pressing financial-efficiency reasons, a collection of outstanding, formerly-independent local hospitals merged into a single, regional system.
The community impact of this new regional system is potentially HUGE ... and critical. This merged system serves in total 1 million patients a year, through this same galaxy of local hospitals ... offering advanced, award-winning care in such major problem specialties as cancer and heart disease.
The level of patient service hasn't changed; that remains highly ranked. What has changed is the name at the top of the letterhead.
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What happened next?
As one does: This merged group of formerly independent nonprofit hospitals rebranded itself under a single NEW corporate name.
Their new corporate name was a word never seen before in the English language ... uttered never by no one ... a name that maybe a galloping tech start-up might conjure in a brain-storming session ... a different name, forward-sounding, a name that might conquer the world someday (or so management prayed).
So, here's where fundraising comes back into the story....
This new, unheard-of-before, different name became, by corporate directive, the big logo heading the next annual donor appeal. Envision, please: at the tippy-top of the next, annual appeal's first page:
New WEIRD name. BIG logo.
The trusted, where-you-were-treated local hospital's name was there, too. But in much smaller type ... beneath (subordinate to) this new, weird corporate name and logo.
This annual appeal was then mailed to patients discharged from various community hospitals.
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What happened ... since fundraising results DO matter?
Annual giving for this re-branded nonprofit hospital system sharply declined.
Not making this up. Have the data. It's locked away in a vault labeled: "Anonymous. Confidential. Do not disturb."
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What went sideways? I think...
Annual philanthropy at community nonprofit hospitals depends on soliciting gifts from so-called "grateful patients."
These are past patients who GIVE because of their own, very intimate experiences "with MY doctor, MY care team, MY hospital." You were in pain, could no longer climb stairs, failing, near-death, doomed even ... and then a modern medical miracle intervened! ... via your nonprofit local hospital.
"Case for support" SIDEBAR:
If you don't already know: "grateful patient" philanthropy tends to fund what's commonly called a nonprofit hospital's "margin of excellence."
I.e., local philanthropy pays for the goodies that insurance REFUSES to cover (boo!) ... such as ground-breaking new technology ... cutting-edge, superbly-trained staff ... and a comforting physical environment where you can absorb your chemo in relative peace. Maybe with bird calls in the background.
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Giving is personal ... always
The system's new weird BRAND name did NOT remind discharged patients emotionally of anything related to their personal healing journey (scars, war stories, drama).
Potential donors were DEEPLY passionate about "their" care team and "their" in-my-back-yard community hospital. BUT ... this weird new system-wide board-approved brand name? It's an interloper. It doesn't (CAN'T) connect emotionally. Remember: it was an invented word, never heard before in the English language.
So individual-giving sagged substantially after the enforced rebrand ... a fundraising loss which the internal "brand police" (to their immense credit) acknowledged and are now eager to reverse, in full cooperation with the foundation. THIS amazing marketing department now firmly believes that a win in philanthropy is a win for the entire hospital system.
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What happened? IMHO....
When you SEVER the emotional ties people have with an institution such as a community hospital....
... where babies are born, broken limbs repaired, hearts restored, cancer fended off, health emergencies resolved, loved ones brought back from the brink, fears faced, new hope born ...
... & then you insert some weird, forgettable, "will likely evaporate in a decade" BRAND name instead?
You're just paddling fiercely away from a Grateful Patient's predictable philanthropic feelings, which are based on reciprocity: you helped me! ~ now maybe I'll gladly help you (if you ask clearly and well ... and I know who the heck you are).
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