Rebranding of charity serving Native Americans succeeds in reaching multiple stakeholders

For a quarter century, National Relief Charities had been delivering humanitarian services to Native Americans living on reservations. A name change to Partnership with Native Americans (PWNA) was designed to raise the organization’s profile. The success of this rebranding effort has earned PWNA and its partner, Alison + Partners, first place in the “Best Branding/Rebranding Campaign” category of Ragan’s 2016 Nonprofit PR Awards.

Most organizations simply need to raise consumer awareness of a brand change, but PWNA’s nonprofit nature meant it had to persuade a collection of partners and other stakeholders to buy into the rebranding. That included donors (corporations, foundations, grantors and individuals) and others.  

To achieve PWNA’s goal, Alison + Partners conducted training sessions and delivered information packages to constituents who could then serve as brand ambassadors and advocates for the new identity. The new brand was introduced to a broader collection of groups through a letter and in one-on-one conversations. 

As a result, none of these groups was surprised when an impressive media campaign announcing the name change resulted in more than 150 media placements, 1,182 online mentions (in blogs, articles, and forums), a share of voice that rose from 6 to 22 percent and over $1.1 million in product donations during the campaign’s 100-day supply drive. 

There was more: an impressive surge of followers for the new Facebook page, over 50,000 social interactions, a huge number of fundraising leads, and more than 134,000 visits to the new website. 

Congratulations to Scott Pansky, Laura Zilverberg, Amy O’Hara, Jessica Peraza, Elizabeth Zwerin, Kate Judge, Rosie de Queljoe and Jeffrey Davidson for their hard work and success.