Your brand’s core identity forms the heart and soul of your organization, guiding everything from your visuals to your messaging. By understanding and defining key elements like your purpose, vision, and values, you can create a strong foundation that shapes not just your brand, but how you connect with the people you serve.
Your brand’s core identity is comprised of five elements – purpose, core belief, vision, mission, and values – that make up the heart and soul of your organization.
These elements work together to facilitate deep connection between you and your audience.
They serve as the foundation for your brand, so that everything created thereafter – from your positioning to message to personality – is consistent and meaningful.
While your organization’s core identity is just one part of creating a strong, meaningful, connection-focused brand, its arguably the most important part because it sets the foundation for every other aspect of your brand.
Why?
Because when you understand the heart and soul behind your organization, it’s a lot easier to determine who your organization is meant to serve, what must be communicated about your impact and what visual identity best supports your communication.
Since core identity is the heart of your organization, it’s easy to (unintentionally) put too much pressure on making sure it’s perfect.
However, your goal is to get something down on the proverbial paper. Something that you can work from. Something that you can reference and use to make next right decisions.
Yes, you want it to be right. But also, organization’s aren’t stagnant and sometimes things change. Because when it comes to all things brand, having something incomplete that’s solidified ‘on paper’ is always better than having everything solidified only in your head.
Table of Contents
What is a purpose, mission and vision statement?
Your organization’s purpose statement is the reason it exists or was created. It’s not an arbitrary idea but rather a reason for doing that connects your brand internally as well as to something bigger – like a cause or movement.
The vision statement is where you want to go as an organization and brand. It’s meant to be big and audacious so it will inspire and instill belief.
Lastly, the mission statement is what the organization is doing today, and every day, to bring the vision to life. It’s the overarching theme that guides your daily commitments and actions, so that your vision can be achieved. Ideally, the mission incorporates or is aligned with the purpose/why.
These statements are intended to be actionable, so write them down, share them often and revisit them regularly to make sure they’re still aligned with your organization.
What is the core belief?
Your organization’s core belief is the sacred truth that reflects how the organization sees the world as well as the space it operates within. It is a statement that helps shape the way the organization operates and communicates with its audience.
What are brand values?
Your brand values are the guiding principles for your organization; the heart and soul behind your why. They are intended to be referenced and upheld when making decisions and taking action.
Oftentimes, organizations will pick words and leave it at that. However, we recommend taking it a step further and defining what the value means to you and your team, so that each value is easily understood and can be acted upon.
How to keep the core identity top-of-mind
A few questions to ask when making decisions or communicating on behalf of the organization:
- Does this align with why we exist and the work we’re committed to doing?
- Does this support our vision and/or get us closer to where we’re going?
- Is this aligned with our values and what we believe?
The intention is to add substance to your brand AND play an active role in your decision making process
An Example: Global Rights for Women
Why does your organization exist? Global Rights for Women exists because women around the world deserve to live their life free from gender-based violence.
What is your organization’s central belief, tied to your why? We believe that globally, women need and deserve safety, justice and equality.
Where does your organization want to go? We envision a world where women and girls live free from gender-based violence, attain equal rights and reach their full potential as human beings.
What is your organization going to do every day to get there? We are committed to ending gender-based violence against women and girls through legal and systems reform.
What values will your organization align with?
- Survivor voice amplification: We are the voice of and advocate for women and girls who are survivors of gender-based violence.
- Collaboration: We operate with a collaboration-first approach and work in conjunction with global partners in local communities.
- Justice, Safety and Equality: We recognize that violence against women intersects with multiple systems of oppression and has a sustained commitment to justice, safety and equality for all.
Your organization’s core identity is the foundation for everything you do, from shaping a message to guiding actions. By clearly defining your purpose, vision, and values, you can strengthen your connection with the people who you most want to build a relationship with, and create lasting impact. As your organization evolves, remember that your brand should, too. And, if you need support in creating these elements for your brand, we’d love to help! Simply contact us to get the conversation started.
Featured image by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash
Kelly is a passionate brand strategist and designer who loves supporting nonprofits on their mission to do more good work in this world. She’s seen firsthand the power of creating a consistent and cohesive brand – from building better connections with your audience to streamlining marketing and fundraising efforts.
