July 9, 2009

Survey: 72 Percent of NPOs Don’t Have A Tag Line

Can people understand your organization’s mission just by reading its name? Or, does someone need to read your entire mission statement to figure it out?

A tagline can bridge that gap, giving more information in an eight words or less punch – when done properly.

And now nonprofits can stack their taglines against one another by entering the 2009 Nonprofit Tagline Awards at GettingAttention.org. The deadline is July 31st.

A 2008 survey by GettingAttention.org showed that 72 percent of nonprofits don’t have a tagline or rate their tagline as performing poorly. That’s why Nancy E. Schwartz, president of Nancy Schwartz & Company and GettingAttention.org blogger, launched the Nonprofit Tagline Report last year.

Schwartz said the right tagline can be an effective marketing tool, and she was surprised to see a majority of nonprofits were ignoring taglines.

“I do indeed think it’s challenging for any organization -- for profit or nonprofit -- to develop an effective tagline. Message development in general is challenging, especially when its attempted in house, by folks who are usually too close to the programs to be effective at it,” she said.

“Moreover, it is always more challenging to say more with less, although I’m a big believer in ‘less is more’ in writing. So for a nonprofit to develop an accessible, memorable, meaningful tagline in eight words or less is really tough,” said Schwartz.

For the 2008 awards, more than 3,000 nonprofit professionals voted for 12 nonprofit out of more than 1,000 submissions for the best and most effective taglines. Winners included Stand Up for a Child (Court Appointed Special Advocate Association of Southwest Missouri) and Improving Life, One Breath at a Time (American Lung Association).

Finalists will be announced later this summer. All entrants will receive a free copy of the 2009 Nonprofit Tagline Report in late 2009, which will go over tagline best practices.

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This article is from NPT Instant Fundraising, a publication of The NonProfit Times.

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