Non-profit Brand Orientation as a Strategic Communication Approach

ABSTRACT In the context of an emerging economy, this study aims to identify the factors that shape non-profit brand orientation (NBO). It also seeks to identify the main antecedents, outcomes, and barriers that are involved in its strategy implementation. The focus of this research is non-profit organizations (NPOs) in Brazil. Qualitative exploratory research with NPOs’ employees, donors, non-donors, and partners was performed using data collected from interviews, non-participant observation, and documents. The data were analyzed using content analysis. The results reveal four themes with associated categories: NBO (cause, mission, communication, and symbols); antecedents (internal factors, external factors, and community involvement); outcomes (staff relationships, partners, reputation, and performance), and barriers (a non-commercial mindset, short-term focus, communication challenges, organizational culture, government barriers, and a lack of resources). We suggest that brand strategic communication is a key factor that enables an NPO to disseminate the organization’s mission, cause, and symbols. All these factors together reflect the NBO. An NBO model is proposed, highlighting its antecedents, outcomes, and barriers, and pointing out similarities to and differences from the previous literature based on well-developed economies. This research discuss the peculiarities of NBO strategy in an emerging country context and the central point of brand strategic communication.