BOSTON, MA. - June 24, 2009 - The YMCA of the USA’s brand is worth almost $6.4 billion, making it the nation’s most valuable nonprofit brand, according to The Cone Nonprofit Power Brand 100. This first-of-its-kind research explores the unique relationship between nonprofit brand image and financial performance and revealed some organizations may be leaving millions of dollars in potential unearned revenue on the table.

Cone, in collaboration with Intangible Business, developed the new brand valuation to provide nonprofits with the information and inspiration they need to make their brands work harder. Brands were valued based on five years of consolidated financial data and a nationally representative consumer perception survey, among several other metrics.

"Through this valuation, we want to help nonprofits better understand how to protect and evolve their brands to generate as much revenue as possible," says Alison DaSilva, executive vice president of Knowledge Leadership and Insights, Cone. "Valuing their brands gives them a license to demonstrate to companies and other partners that there is an established and justified cost to aligning with their organization."

The Top 10
The Top 10 Nonprofit Power Brands are a Who’s Who of some of America’s most beloved and recognizable organizations; of these, six are domestic social needs organizations with long legacies of service and touch points in communities across the country. The two surprise findings on the list are Catholic Charities USA and The Arc of the United States, which despite being multibillion-dollar organizations, have significantly lower brand image rankings than their peers in the Top 10.

Brand Image
As a crucial component of the valuation, Cone conducted a proprietary national survey of 1,000 American adults to gauge the familiarity and personal relevance of each organization. These results, combined with other perception factors, including media coverage and the percent of revenue from direct public support, reveal the "brand image" of each organization.

The American Cancer Society stood out with the strongest brand image due in large part to its standing as the single most relevant nonprofit organization among consumers. In addition to many of the Top 10, other organizations who swept the brand image chart included:

• American Heart Association "“ No. 7 Brand Image (Power Brand 100 Rank: 12)
  
• Special Olympics "“ No. 8 Brand Image (Power Brand 100 Rank: 58)
  
• Make-A-Wish Foundation of America "“ No. 9 Brand Image (Power Brand 100 Rank: 35)
  
• The Humane Society of the United States "“ No. 10 Brand Image (Power Brand 100 Rank: 55)

Several leading nonprofits "“ including The Humane Society, Special Olympics and Make-A-Wish Foundation of America "“ may not sufficiently be leveraging their strong brand images to generate greater revenues. Conversely, some organizations, such as Catholic Charities and The Arc of the United States, have substantial revenues, but inconsistently low brand images, which may indicate they have occasion to grow their appeal to broader or more diverse audiences.

"The goal of a brand valuation is to determine the amount of money a brand contributes to a nonprofit’s revenue," explains William Grobel, international business valuation director for nonprofits, Intangible Business. "This critical synergy between an organization’s financial performance and its brand plays a significant role in generating additional funds to put toward mission services."

Sector Insights
In addition to the brand valuation, the study revealed a number of insights into the specific nonprofit issue sectors. For example, at a time when the nation faces an economic crisis and basic human needs are paramount, domestic social needs is the most valuable nonprofit sector. Ten domestic social needs nonprofits were included in the top quarter of the list. Other key sector findings include:

• A majority of the environmental/animal-related nonprofits ranked in the bottom half of the list and had similarly low brand rankings; however, environmental organizations also have the highest growth spikes in revenue of all nonprofits studied;
  
• The largest nonprofit sector is international needs, which accounts for 30 percent of the 100 organizations ranked; however, consumers consider this sector to be the least familiar and least relevant;
  
• The health and education/youth sectors are the most familiar and most relevant to consumers, yet many disease-specific nonprofits clustered indistinctly toward the center of the ranking; and,
  
• Health nonprofits are also the most likely to generate revenue from special events earning more than $1.8 billion from events alone.

Cone Communications

Cone Communications

Cone Communications is a public relations and marketing agency known for igniting brands with high-impact strategies and programs based in deep insights, unique subject matter expertise and innovation. Focusing on key areas such as consumer product media relations, social media, cause marketing, corporate social responsibility, nonprofit marketing, corporate communications and crisis prevention/management - the agency is positioned to help clients achieve both business and societal outcomes.

Cone Communications is a part of Diversified Agency Services, a division of Omnicom Group Inc.

For potential client interest, please contact:
Marc Berliner
mberliner@conecomm.com
(617) 939-8467
Vice President Business Development

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617-227-2111
CEO

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