About Red Rooster Group

Red Rooster Group is a full-service branding, marketing and design agency that specializes in helping nonprofit organizations and progressive businesses to improve their visibility, sales and fundraising efforts. We develop brand and marketing strategy, visual identity / logo design, websites, brochures and print publications, and social media and online strategies. Our light-filled studio is located on 23rd Street across from Madison Square Park, near the N / R and 6 trains, one block from the F train.

Job Description

This position encompasses 3 areas:

1. BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT: Handling incoming leads to Red Rooster Group by qualifying prospects, identifying their needs and assisting in writing proposals, and developing sales presentations.

2. PROJECT MANAGEMENT: Handling the flow of projects in the studio including setting up project schedules, coordinating with designers, writers, programmers and other team members, and acting as liaison to between the client and the agency.

3. MARKETING: Assisting in market research, marketing strategy and potentially copywriting for clients. Assisting with Red Rooster Group’s marketing efforts — updating our website, developing our email newsletter, updating social media pages, and other marketing duties.

This position is perfect for an energetic self-starter that wants to learn and be part of a dynamic firm that is making a difference in the world. You will be working directly under the Principal / Strategic Director who brings 20 years experience in marketing.

Job Requirements

• Marketing and project management experience.
• •Understanding of branding and marketing concepts.
• Familiarity with the marketing needs of the nonprofit sector.
• Ability to translate client needs into marketing proposals and strategies.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Ability to manage projects and multi-task.
• Self-motivated and ability to exercise independent judgment and discretion.
• Highly polished, professional demeanor.
• Highly-detail oriented.
• Familiar with the Mac environment.
• Familiarity with Adobe InDesign.
• Familiarity with Google Docs.
• A desire to contribute to a better world by empowering nonprofit organizations.

Salary: $40,000

We are looking for qualified candidates who want to put their values into action in a small firm setting by being an integral part of a dynamic team. If you are up to the challenge, send a cover letter describing your abilities and what you have to offer to info@redroostergroup.com. Include the words MARKETING and your name in the subject.

The YouTube Nonprofit Program is currently open to registered organizations in the U.S., U.K. Australia and Canada and offers free benefits like donate buttons/overlays, custom thumbnail selection and channel branding. To learn more and apply, please click here. For organizations who are already members of the Nonprofit Program, you can enable live-streaming in a few simple steps, outlined here.

Source: YouTube Blog

Red Rooster Group is a New York based graphic design firm that creates effective brands, websites, and marketing campaigns to increase your visibility, fundraising, and communications effectiveness. Contact us at info@redroostergroup.com.

The effectiveness of your nonprofit organization in accomplishing its mission and in raising money depends upon the strength of its brand — what people perceive about your organization. And much of what people perceive, especially donors, is based on how well you are communicating with them. So it pays to know how well you are doing in all areas of your marketing, communications, and fundraising. This 3-hour hands-on workshop will give you the tools for thoroughly evaluating your organization’s brand. We’ll provide a worksheet so that you can evaluate your:

• Organizational Readiness and capacity to produce great marketing.
• Brand Fundamentals including your name, tagline and logo
• Website, email marketing and social media
• Printed Materials including brochures, flyers, newsletters and publications
• Fundraising materials and event promotion
• Technology used for your marketing and fundraising
• Tracking and reporting your results

This workshop will give you sense of your marketing strengths and weaknesses, so that you can learn what you need to improve help and help you prioritize your fundraising efforts to get the maximum return. You are sure to leave with some great insights that you can apply right away.

Presenter

Howard Adam Levy, Principal, Red Rooster Group

Who Should Attend

Executive Directors, Marketing and Communications Staff, Development Directors, Board Members

Upcoming Sessions

4.17.12  United Way of Westchester, White Plains, NY (3 hour workshop)

4.25.12  Support Center for Nonprofit Management, NYC (3 hour workshop)

5.10.12  Wake Up Your Brand, CT Association of Nonprofits, Waterbury, CT (3 hour workshop)

• Learn more about this session, including a video and handouts from a past session.

LINKS

• Public Speaking Main Page
• List of Speaking Engagements.
• Book Howard to speak.

There are about 4,000 to 6,000 cancer-related organizations in the United States and yet, we haven’t cured cancer. Foodbanks cannot keep up with the increasing demand of more people going without a meal. We have growing rates of autism, Parkinson’s and other diseases, more people falling below the poverty line, and many other monumental problems. Over the past decade or so, the number of nonprofits has doubled to 1.6 million. And yet, we haven’t solved these problems. What’s going on?

No Shortage of New Nonprofits

Every month, our marketing agency is approached by people looking to start a nonprofit organization because they encounter one of these types of problems and want to do something about it. And so they think that starting an organization to bring comedians into the hospitals to lift cancer patients spirits will help, or bringing inner city kids boating for day will help. It will help, but not much.

That’s because they are not addressing the fundamental problems — the causes and cure for cancer, in the first case, lack of regular outdoor activities for certain populations, in the second case.

We have enough organizations applying small and ineffective band aids to larger problems. This has to stop. We need to start thinking seriously about how to solve the large problems.

There are many well-intentioned and knowledgable people in the United States ready, willing and able to make a difference. We need to channel these efforts in a meaningful way that will actually go toward solving problems, stemming the causes of the problems, and creating structures to ensure those problems don’t re-occur.

A Radical Proposal

I have a radical proposal toward that end — limit the lifespan of new nonprofits to a certain time frame – say 10 years. This would focus new organizations on adopting innovative ideas in order to actually solve a problem, rather than in merely providing services.

The organizations would be empowered to employ creative thinking, risk-taking, research and advocacy to accomplish their mission of putting themselves out of business at the end of 10 years. It would free them to attract top talent who relish a high level challenge. It would encourage spending in technology and marketing to galvanize people around the cause, and would inspire donors to contribute as they see annual progress toward a larger goal.

At the end of the ten years, the organization would have to document all their research and work toward solving the problem, share it with the general public (including other nonprofits and NGOs, government, businesses, and social entrepreneurs) so that another party can use that information to address the issue. The nonprofit would be allowed reapply for nonprofit status with a new focus based on their learnings and a new time frame. If they do not have any learnings to share or a new perspective or approach on addressing the problem, their application would be rejected.

Bold Thinking is Needed

The nonprofit sector needs this type of bold thinking to break the cycle of merely providing services while the problems grow larger, to break the poverty mindset that stifles innovation, to break the status quo of founder’s syndrome, and most off all, stem the insane growth of competition of small nonprofits vying for the same pool of resources, none of which is going toward solving the real problems.

What do you think? An idea worth considering, or entirely crazy? Let’s start the discussion.

Howard Adam Levy, is Principal of Red Rooster Group, a New York based graphic design firm that creates effective brands, websites and marketing campaigns for nonprofits to increase their visibility, fundraising and communications effectiveness. Contact us at info@redroostergroup.com.

Related Articles

• Don’t Start a Nonprofit
• Measuring New Criteria for Nonprofit Effectiveness
• Attributes of a Successful Nonprofit
• How Much is This Dollar Worth?

We get a lot of calls from well-intentioned individuals wanting to make a difference in the world. That’s great. We need more caring people making a difference. We don’t necessarily need another nonprofit organization to do so.

Consider this, there are currently over 1.5 million nonprofit organizations in the United States. To put that into perspective, the population of the United States is 300 million, so that’s more than one charity for every 300 people.

That means that if you have an idea for an organization, it probably already exists. So start by finding out. Do a Google search for your cause and see what shows up. You can also check CharityNavigator.org, which rates nonprofits in different ways, and GuideStar.org, which features information, including tax returns of nonprofits, so you can examine organizations in detail. After all, if other well-established organizations exist with a similar mission, then do you want to be competing against them for funding? And what chance do you really have?

Generally, our recommendation to people looking to start a nonprofit is not to do so, unless

• You have a very clearly defined mission that addresses a very specific problem and is unique, memorable, and inspirational.
• You have a specific, well-thought out means of addressing the problem, ostensibly, one this is unique as well.
• You have a strategic plan that addresses the goals and strategies for the organization.
• You have a method of funding that will sustain the organization for the long-term.

You’re Facing an Uphill Battle

Now consider the requirements to start a nonprofit — you need to have a board of directors, incorporate as a charity, register in every state in which you will be doing fundraising, and meet auditing and reporting requirements.

And then consider what is necessary to run the operation and make it successful — knowledge of the issue and how to address it better than it is currently being addressed, operations management of delivering services effectively and a means of measuring their effectiveness, attracting staff with the right skills, building a board of directors, managing volunteers, managing finances, having the right technology and donor systems in place, developing your brand and promoting the organization, and most of all, fundraising – because if you don’t have money, you don’t have an organization — you just have an idea.

The fact is, that 85% of all nonprofits never make it over $250,000 in annual revenue and have a difficult time sustaining their organizations. And in this recession, even the government is late in paying nonprofits the money they are owed. As a result, many organizations have folded or merged in recent years.

Put Your Passion into Action in Other Ways

If you are looking to do good in the world, that is very admirable and there are a number of things that you can do:

• Start by volunteering for a nonprofit organization to learn what it is like and learn about the specific issues.
• Serve on a board of directors to learn the responsibilities of running a nonprofit.
• Work for a nonprofit to get experience on the inside.
• Participate in mentoring, training, and partnership arrangements.
• You can also donate goods and services, help charities organize fundraising events, and spread the word.
• Also consider how a socially-responsible business or other format (such as galvanize other people around the cause) can address the issue.

Resources

To research nonprofits, visit:

• CharityNavigator
• GuideStar

To find a volunteering opportunity, visit:

• Volunteermatch.org

To find out more about serving on a nonprofit board, visit:

• BoardnetUSA
• BoardserveNYC

Related Articles

• Times Up: A Radical Proposal for Nonprofits
• Measuring New Criteria for Nonprofit Effectiveness
• Attributes of a Successful Nonprofit
• How Much is This Dollar Worth?

Howard Adam Levy, is Principal of Red Rooster Group, a New York based graphic design firm that creates effective brands, websites and marketing campaigns for nonprofits to increase their visibility, fundraising and communications effectiveness. Contact us at info@redroostergroup.com.

Komen is one of the most well-known and respected charities, and they had a huge role in putting breast cancer on the map. But they don’t always seem to act in the interests of their mission of stemming breast cancer. As an  organization working on behalf of women’s health, their decision to partner with KFC last year was widely criticized as trading one health concern — breast cancer — for another — heart disease. Their decision to stop funding Planned Parenthood seemed motivated by their Komen’s pro-life stance, rather than their support for women’s health.

Komen was providing funding to Planned Parenthood for services around breast exams, not abortions (which constitute only 3% of their services). In fact, in some areas of the country, Planned Parenthood is the only provider of women’s heath services. Planned Parenthood meanwhile, has already received more than $3 million in donations in the past week, more than 3 times the amount they receive from Komen, and is getting publicity that is helping the public understand its services better.

While Komen reversed their decision to rescind funding to Planned Parenthood, the damage to their brand is done and they will have a difficult time recovering, particularly that they have now annoyed both pro-life and pro-choice factions. This scandal is also shedding light on Komen’s partnerships with corporate entities that act against the interests of women’s health, causing the organization to be viewed as opportunistic. And with a movie about to launch that shines the light on Komen’s tactics, the organization has its work cut out for it in rebuilding trust among its donors.

Read the article in The Columbus Dispatch: Komen’s reversal on Planned Parenthood irks some

Howard Adam Levy, is Principal of Red Rooster Group, a New York based graphic design firm that creates effective brands, websites and marketing campaigns for nonprofits to increase their visibility, fundraising and communications effectiveness. Contact us at info@redroostergroup.com.

All titles are clickable links to the full story.

JANUARY

Red Rooster Group Launches The Nonprofit Brand Institute to Educate Nonprofits

JANUARY

Red Rooster Group Partners with the New Jersey Center for Non-Profits

JANUARY

Red Rooster Group Selected to Promote Con Edison’s Energy Savings Programs

JANUARY

Largest Educational Organization in India Selects Red Rooster Group for Branding Program

JANUARY

The Jewish Education Project Selects Red Rooster Group to Manage Its Brand

JANUARY

Howard Writes Article for GuideStar: How to Develop a Brand for Your Nonprofit

FEBRUARY

Red Rooster Launches Website for Global Consulting Firm

FEBRUARY

Howard is Featured on Tony Martignetti Nonprofit Radio

FEBRUARY

Howard Publishes Article in B2C: Ask the Expert: Should We Change Our Name?

FEBRUARY

Red Rooster Group Produces Websites That Work Webinar for the New Jersey Center for Non-Profits

APRIL

Howard Presents 10 Ways to Wake Up Your Nonprofit Brand Session at Gotham Networking Group

MAY

Howard Writes Article for Fundraising Success Magazine: How to Increase the Impact of Your Fundraising Event

MAY

Red Rooster Group Announces Record Revenue Growth and New Clients

MAY

Howard Publishes Article on Charity Channel: So You Have a New Logo, Now What?

JUNE

Howard Writes Article for WildApricot: Naming Your Nonprofit

JUNE

Howard Writes Article for GuideStar: Time to Develop New ‘Donor-Friendly’ Messaging?

JULY

Red Rooster Group Produces Successful Creative Mix & Mingle Event

JULY

Howard Writes Article for WildApricot: Seven Planning Considerations Before Developing Your Nonprofit Website

JULY

Howard Presents Wake Up Your Brand Webinar Produced by Philanthropy Journal

JULY

Red Rooster Group Hosts Mary Lynn Haller to Discuss Social Media

AUGUST

Howard Leads Session at The Jewish Education Project’s Summer Institute

AUGUST

Red Rooster Group Announces Winners of Our Brand Review Competition Co-sponsored by the New Jersey Center for Non-Profits

SEPTEMBER

3 Red Rooster Group Logos Are Selected for Logo Lounge 7 Book

SEPTEMBER

Howard is Judge for Baruch College Entrepreneurial Business Plan Competition for Second Year

SEPTEMBER

CropLife International Selects Red Rooster Group to Create Website

SEPTEMBER

First Issue of Alumni Magazine Produced by Red Rooster Group Raises $9,000 for Camp

OCTOBER

Howard Adam Levy is Quoted in The Chronicle of Philanthropy

OCTOBER

Howard Packs the House at Baruch Session Introducing Red Rooster Group’s Brand Evaluator Tool

NOVEMBER

Red Rooster Group Achieves Top Search Engine Rankings

DECEMBER

Video of Workshop Explains How to Evaluate Your Nonprofit Brand

DECEMBER

Red Rooster Group Sponsors New Jersey Center for Non-Profits Conference

DECEMBER

Red Rooster Group Co-Produces Ask the Expert Event for Nonprofits

DECEMBER

Howard is Interviewed on 360 Nonprofit Marketing

DECEMBER

Pratham USA Raises Over $130,000 Online with Its New Website Designed By Red Rooster Group

The video run in 2 segments of about 40 minutes each and includes:

• Howard Adam Levy, Principal of Red Rooster Group presenting an overview of the nonprofit brand evaluation process and how to manage all the different aspects of your marketing, examples of evaluating membership marketing materials, and tips for promoting your fundraising event and technology. (about 50 minutes)

• Rebecca Saidlower, Marketing Manager for the Jewish Education Project discussing the branding and marketing issues faced by her nonprofit organization in creating a consistent look and message for their various programs. (about 20 minutes)

• Brandy Wood, Marketing Manager for WBGO Newark Public Radio discussing the brand challenges of this public radio station in terms  of their logo, their on air personalities, and the challenge of trying to establish brand consistency in a culture that values improvisation. (about 20 minutes)

• Questions and answers about various nonprofit marketing issues faced by various audience members, including organizational naming, and marketing outreach issues. (about 20 minutes)

• Michael Feller, Adjunct Professor at Baruch moderates.

Let us know what you thought of the presentation. Leave a comment below.

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Brand Evaluator

This Brand Evaluator tool can help you conduct a comprehensive assessment of how well your organization is communicating in all areas. With this tool, you can examine your agency’s brand and all of its marketing materials to determine how professional, consistent, and accurate your marketing is. You can use these questions to identity your organization’s marketing strengths and weaknesses so that you can improve what’s working and fix what’s not. Download the tool and the presentation for a limited time.

Download the PDF of the Brand Evaluator Tool.
(give it a moment to download).

Red Rooster Group is a New York based graphic design firm that creates effective brands, websites, and marketing campaigns to increase your visibility, fundraising, and communications effectiveness. Contact us at info@redroostergroup.com.

• See nonprofit brand case studies.
• See our services.
• Contract Red Rooster Group for help with your nonprofit branding and marketing.

It’s important to have a cohesive brand so that donors and participants recognize all aspects of your organization. These examples of brand families show different ways of creating a brand architecture to unify divisions or programs to create a comprehensive brand that is easily recognized.

Unifying Multiple Locations of One Organization

Graphic Device Highlights Location While Keeping Prominence on Organization’s Name

This autism organization was operating from 4 different locations but wasn’t maximizing that advantage (most other agencies in the region had only one location). To show the agency’s greater breadth, we updated their logo and created a brand family  with logos that identity each of the agency’s venues.

Since we had redesigned the logotype without an icon, it made sense to use a graphic device to identity the respective location while providing additional visual interest to the logo. While colors distinguish each location, the curved tagline helps to unify the entire logo configuration.

When adapted to the newsletter and other communications materials, the wave motif is used as a design element.

> See the full case study.

Establishing a Naming System for Chapters and Affiliates

Creating a Consistent Treatment of the Names and Tagline

The largest educational organization in India was growing, with 15 chapters in the United States and international affiliates, but lacked standards for . how chapters were named. To address this, we developed a comprehensive brand architecture for the organization that defined the relationship of the logo and tagline, created consistency for their 15 chapter and international affiliate names, and determined how they should be styled. We then developed versions of all the logos (15 chapters plus international partners) with and without the tagline in formats for print and web use.

> See the full case study.

Giving More Prominence to Fundraising Divisions

Connecting the Giving Circles the Parent Organization

This local Federation (one of 157 nationwide) was grappling with brand standards for their different fundraising divisions. Some giving circles did not have a consistent treatment for their name — for example each fundraising invitation looked entirely different, and there was no connection to the agency — a lost opportunity to develop recognition and connection. Other giving groups, such as the Lion of Judah, had a long-standing icon that was used for an elegant pin worn by those giving at a certain level, and was recognized nationally throughout the Federation system. Compounding this confusion was the fact that when the division name was used, there was often no connection to the Federation.

Creating Division Logos to Stand on Their Own

We addressed these concerns with a thorough re-thinking of how the division names should be treated in relative to the organization’s name and developed the Main Logo with Divisions when it was important for the agency’s name to be more prominent, and Division Logos that identify the Federation when they are used on invitations. We also developed logos that work well at very small sizes to identify the organizations supported by the Federation as well as partner organizations.

> See the full case study.

Creating Consistency for Different Programs

Giving More Prominence to the Program Names with a Special Type Treatment

In order to counter the religious perception of its name, Incarnation Camp wanted to use the division names that it had been using for years, which were more like traditional camp names. Since the camps divisions were Pequot for Boys, Sherwood for Girls, and Pioneer Village for Teens, we created a series of logos using those names in a coordinated way. The consistent type treatment helps people identify the logos as being the same camp, while the changes in color — green for the boys and girls overnight camp, brown for teens, and orange for day camp — distinguish between the divisions.

> See the full case study.

Connecting Different Operating Units Under One Organization

A Single Logo with Different Color Bands Connect All the Units

This social service agency was operating under 3 different names, each with a different logo, in addition to having other departments. They wanted to capitalize on their breadth of services to demonstrate their impact in the community in order to improve their ability to fundraise.

We created a brand family that unifies all the operating units in a consistent way. The icon of the leaping figure in black remains consistent while the color bands identify each operating unit.

The 40th Anniversary Logo Uses Elements from the Organization’s Logo

The 40 Year Anniversary logo uses the colored arc (leaping man’s arms) as part of the design, subtly mimicking the embrace of two hands, while the 4 extends into the zero, echoing the look of the O in Ohel.

> See the full case study.

Alternative Treatment for Operating Units

Unique Symbols Made from the Same 3 Elements Create Unity

We had proposed another way of addressing their operating units under the same organizational header — using a leaping figure symbol for the agency consisting of three elements: a purple circle, a yellow brush stroke, and a green brush stroke. These three elements were then recombined to create distinctive icons for each of the business units. The color and use of the logo elements helps create consistency, while the different icons create distinction for each division.

Creating a Brand Family to Connect Fundraising Event & Anniversary

Consistent Use of Color and Icons Creates Harmony

This example shows how elements from the organization’s logo (such as the leaping figure) are used in other logos like the agency’s 25th Anniversary logo and Overcoming the Odds Awards (OTO) logo. Notice how the open book is used as the top of the letter “T’ in the OTO logo.

> See the full case study.

Developing Unity Among Programs, Partners and Parent

Color Gradient and Typography Creates a Flexible System

This educational nonprofit had a new logo for the agency (designed by BBMG), but the logo and design of their program marketing materials didn’t look like they came from the same organization. We helped tie them to the parent agency with a consistent typographic treatment and use of the color gradient. Now each program has a slightly different look, but is unmistakably recognizable as coming from The Jewish Education Project.

Unifying the Partnership with Other Organizations

In addition, the agency ran programs in partnership with other organizations under the moniker, Coalition of Innovating Congregations, but lacked a way of unifying the disparate logos. We unified the logos using the loop in The Jewish Education Project as the anchor.

> See the full case study.

Links

• See more examples of nonprofit branding.
• Learn more about nonprofit naming.
• Read articles on nonprofit branding and marketing.
• Contact Red Rooster Group for help with your branding.

Red Rooster Group is a New York based graphic design firm that creates effective brands, websites, and marketing campaigns to increase your visibility, fundraising, and communications effectiveness. Contact us at info@redroostergroup.com or 212-673-9353.

The unique folds on this brochure for a Jewish educational nonprofit organization allows the user to see all the panels from one side of the paper.

Our challenge was to create a cost-effective way of conveying information that occupied 8 pages in the prior year’s brochure. Given the limited budget, we needed a creative solution that would still highlight the innovative nature of the conference and not look cheap.

We developed a brochure format that accordion-folds back and forth revealing all the contents of the brochure from the front panel. The program agenda and competition winners could be accessed by flipping down the top panels, while the sponsors and speakers’ bios could be seen by  flipping up the bottom panels.

The brochure was designed to fit on a single sheet of paper so that it could be printed on a digital press, allowing the brochure to be produced within budget.

This format proved to be a very successful for the conference, helping participants quickly find the relevant information they needed while creating an engaging, interactive experience that reinforced the organization’s brand as forward thinking and resourceful.

See the full marketing case study for The Jewish Education Project.

See The Jewish Education Project brochure.

Links

• See other brochures.
• See Red Rooster Group’s commitment to Jewish organizations.
• Learn about Red Rooster Group’s services.
• Contact Red Rooster Group for marketing and design help.

Red Rooster Group is a New York based graphic design firm that creates effective brands, websites, and marketing campaigns to increase your visibility, fundraising, and communications effectiveness. Contact us for help with your marketing.