Interesting article about national nonprofit branding. As highlighted by Stephanie Strom of the New York Times, the top ten came out as follows:

YMCA

Salvation Army

United Way of America

American Red Cross

Goodwill Industries

Catholic Charities

Habitat for Humanity

American Cancer Society

ARC of the United States

Boys and Girls Clubs

According to the study, few nonprofits question the benefits a strong brand can have for their organizations, yet some are not leveraging their hard-earned halo by translating it into bottom-line benefits.

The American Lung Association, Special Olympics, The Humane Society of the United States and the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America all earned image scores in the top fifth of the list; however, their brand value fell sharply because revenue did not perform at the same level. The result is some of America’s most beloved nonprofit brands may be leaving millions of dollars in unrealized income on the table.

We wonder what the most recognized nonprofit brands are in Northeast Florida?

An Analysis Ranks Brands of Nonprofits

The Y.M.C.A. has the most valuable brand in the nonprofit field, according to an analysis by two marketing companies.

The second-most-valuable brand belongs to the Salvation Army, followed by the United Way of America.

The analysis, by the marketing firm Cone LLC and Intangible Business, a British brand-valuation company, used financial data, projected growth in revenues and a survey of 1,000 Americans to determine the top 100 most valuable nonprofit brand names among organizations providing social, environmental and animal-related services.

“We hope to show what a powerful asset a brand can be to a nonprofit, if it is leveraged properly,” said Alison DaSilva, executive vice president of Cone.

Nonprofits like the United Way and the American Red Cross, whose name was the fourth most valuable on Cone’s list, have made efforts to value their brand names in the past, but the new analysis appears to be the first that applies the same method of measuring that value across many different nonprofits.

The list is likely to interest companies as well as nonprofits and donors, Ms. DaSilva said. Businesses support nonprofits as a way of enhancing their own brands, and nonprofits with the best brand names will have a greater halo effect.

The analysis spotted some interesting things. Environmental groups are the darlings of donors right now and their revenues are among the fastest growing in the sector — but their brand names scored lower values in the Cone research.

“They have spent a lot of time raising awareness of the issues through things like calls to action — put a brick in your toilet, turn out the lights — but not for their brands,” Ms. DaSilva said.

Conversely, she said, the Make-A-Wish Foundation enjoys widespread recognition, but its revenues do not reflect that. “They can capitalize on the brand recognition to increase revenues,” Ms. DaSilva said.