The NonProfit Times - February 15, 2008 - (Page 4)

REBRANDING A TRADITION In another major component of the rebranding, the March of Dimes launched MarchofDimesBabies.org, cent a year, compared to the 4 perwith general information about baby cent pace of the recent past. In 2006, health. The home page is covered total revenues ran $236.7 million. with lines of small, light gray text that At the heart of the shift, the plancover 200 commonly-asked questions ning of which began about two years about pregnancy, everything from ago, was polling that showed nearly why the mother’s hair gets thicker to 90 percent of the people had heard of the chances that a baby will have the organization, but only half of them Down’s Syndrome if the mother is knew what it did.The March of Dimes older than 35. had a very high profile for more The eye-catcher is that the lines than two decades after its founding turn black to show a baby crawling in 1938 to lead the fight to conaround and playing. quer polio. It became less familiar In venturing into general baby after the disease was eradicated health, March of Dimes will bump and the focus shifted to birth deup against entrenched players, infects and premature births. cluding the Mayo Clinic, New York As a result, March of Dimes leadPresbyterian Hospital and Parenters decided approximately one year ing magazine. Babycenter.com, ago to expand the group’s scope to owned by Johnson & Johnson, was general baby health rather than stayfar and away the leader with 4.05 ing confined to pregnancies when million unique site visitors in Desomething goes wrong. Quietly, cember, according to comScore they changed the official name from Media Metrix. By contrast, the reguthe March of Dimes Birth Defects lar March of Dimes site drew only Foundation to the March of Dimes 225,000 visitors, down 25 percent Foundation and then retained the from December 2006 and lagging Kansas City marketing consultant at least 10 other general baby sites. Barkley to redesign the imagery. Other sites also employ various “We want moms to know that REBRANDING techniques to draw and retain readwe are here for all babies and have An updated logo (top left) was a ers. Babycenter.com, for example, a lot of great information for them,” small part of the overall rebrandsends emails every week to women said Staples. “We are not only for ing of the March of Dimes and its who sign up telling them what to people who have a problem during signature special event. expect at particular stages of their pregnancy.” pregnancies. In part, that meant casting aside Against that the WalkAmerica name, despite “There is always risk in change, especially for Staples said themarketing power, March of Dimes the nearly four decades of brand equity behind it.The fundraiser has something that has been around for a long time.” hopes to gain traction as one site that is an impartial source of knowlregularly accounted for about 45 — DOUG STAPLES edge and not selling anything. percent of the March of Dimes’ As the other major piece of retotal revenue, with the take rising branding, the organization was adoptfrom $96.7 million in 2004 to $116.52 up during the process of choosing of strong feelings about the cause.” Any pitfalls in the transition would ing the color purple for its materials the name, but that focus group testing million in 2007. be “manageable,” he added, as long as and changing the logo to all lower “There is always risk in change, had not shown it to be a problem. Overall, Carr termed the name the message was pressed home to the case letters in a softer font.“The public especially for something that has service advertising is more intimate been around for a long time,” said change a bit risky.“People would give thousands of people involved. Along that line, Staples said, the or- and friendly, and we hope this change Staples.“But it has gotten kind of di- their right arms to have that kind of luted with so many other walks out brand equity (of WalkAmerica),” he ganization had sent a heads-up mail- will help people see the March of there, so it doesn’t have as much im- said.“There is no way you can estab- ing to approximately 30,000 top Dimes as a more approachable organilish that kind of presence in today’s volunteers, followed by an email zation that they can feel comfortable pact as it used to.” blast to 2 million people who have joining,” said March of Dimes President One of the risks pointed out by environment.” But he acknowledged that March previously participated. Dr. Jennifer L. Howse. NPT brand consultants Joel Baumwoll of Brandoctors in New York City and Mike Carr, director of NameStormers of Lago Vista,Texas, was the potential to pull the March of Dimes into the heated politics of abortion.To both of them, the title March for Babies could create the false impression that the neutral March of Dimes had joined the pro-life side. Mike Swenson, an executive vice president at Barkley, said this potential complication had come Continued from page 1 for Babies would generate buzz. “If they manage the spin properly, it does give them an opportunity to tell their story to an awful lot of new people,” he said. Baumwoll considered it “pretty clever”to incorporate the word march in the name, because of the tie to the organization. Moreover, he added, “A march is more powerful than a walk. March implies people who have MAKING THE PITCH Continued from page 1 provided by the mission and programs of the charitable organization; and, the donors’ planned gifts required to fund the mission, services and programs. As another step in the process, Purcell suggested linking planned giving with board duties, responsibilities and even the organization’s history of planned giving. “Assuring prudent management of a charitable organization is a logical extension of a board’s legal duty of care,” he stated. Maximizing fundraising revenue through all reasonable and appropriate means, including planned giving, might be regarded as one fulfillment the board 4 “” A gift-planning policies and procedures manual must be a dynamic document, allowing for change over time. — Philip M. Purcell owes the organization, he said. “As boards of directors evaluate their duty of care relative to assuring adequate revenues, an exclusive focus on fundraising strategies based on annual giving, current major outright FEBRUARY 15, 2008 gifts, grant-writing and special events to the exclusion of planned giving may be regarded as imprudent,” he said. “Integrating planned giving in the structure,staffing,budget and other aspects of a total development program www.nptimes.com THE NONPROFIT TIMES is a means to maximize donors’ philanthropy on behalf of the organization.” This also means “a charity board must exercise its duty of care to assure that all development programs are sufficiently funded, including the planned giving program,” he said. Another manner in which the board can exercise its duty of care “is to review and approve policies and procedures. A gift-planning policies and procedures manual must be a dynamic document, allowing for change over time,” he said. Purcell outlined several practical steps an organization can take to get board members involved in the Making The Pitch, page 5 http://babycenter.com http://www.nptimes.com

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The NonProfit Times - February 15, 2008 Raising $1 Billion Rebranding A Tradition Making The Pitch Contents Message Matters Consolidation Continues Coordinating Your Message All About The Money Ho-Ho-Hoping At Christmas Best Practices It’s A New Year NPT Jobs Resource Directory

The NonProfit Times - February 15, 2008

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