Confessions of SSIR Fans

Dear Dreamers and Doers,

We’ll just say it: we are unabashed fans of the Stanford Social Innovation Review. SSIR published “The Role of Brand in the Nonprofit Sector” back in 2012 — the article that introduced the Role of Brand Cycle and gave people like us a framework for what we knew to be true all along. A nonprofit brand isn’t a logo or a marketing tool. It’s the engine that drives identity, trust, capacity, and impact.

So when SSIR publishes something that aligns so beautifully with teaching points straight out of our Bold Brand workshops, we pay attention. This month, it’s “The Future of the Performing Arts Depends on Strategic Partnerships” by Jessica Phillips, Christine Chen, and Julian Chender. It’s written for orchestras, opera companies, dance troupes, and theaters. But read it with any cause and culture mission in mind, and you’ll find yourself nodding along. We sure did.

Two Problems (One of Which Is Pride)

Every cause and culture organization is climbing the same mountain right now — reduced funding, shrinking audiences, shifting donor preferences — on the way to a summit of steadier earned revenue, deeper donor support, and more diverse partnerships. The article’s examples come from the performing arts, but the shadow they cast falls on all of us. So let’s listen up.

The authors name two long-standing stressors. The first is the Baumol effect — economists William Baumol and William Bowen’s 1965 observation that labor-intensive work like live performance gets more expensive, faster, than industries that can automate. You can’t make a symphony more efficient by playing it at double speed. (Well, you can. Once.) Add the wave of canceled NEA grants in May 2025, and plenty of organizations have spent the past year cutting costs, scrambling for revenue, and dipping into reserves just to stay upright.

The second stressor is the one that made us sit up straight. The authors call it institutional exceptionalism: the go-it-alone habit of positioning yourself as utterly one-of-a-kind while quietly competing with everyone around you for the same donors, audiences, and grants. Instead of building public appetite for the art form as a whole, organizations pour their energy into polishing their own image.

You might expect brand people to cheer for that.

We don’t. That’s an ego with a logo.

Purpose First. Then Partners.

The authors prescribe two antidotes for any organization getting ready to approach new partners: clarify your organizational purpose, and map your business model. Their argument is one DRMTM built our whole process on: “organizations with a clearly defined purpose are better positioned to make strategic decisions” about how they operate in their field, because that foundation lets them lead with their unique strengths, both on their own and alongside others.

That is what a well-built brand does. It’s the home of your purpose and values. It answers what makes you special and what role you play in the larger ecosystem — exactly the self-knowledge the authors say an organization needs before it can partner with anyone.

Why It Matters (Hint: Nobody Partners with a Mystery)

The article lays out a whole spectrum of partnerships: everything from one-time joint campaigns, co-commissions, and shared back-office arrangements to full mergers. Every one of them rests on the same foundation — knowing who you are clearly enough that someone else can see where you fit. (That’s the first question we ask in our workshops. Who are you? Nearly everyone responds by describing their programs, not their purpose.)

A partner can’t align with a mission it can’t make out. A funder can’t back a collaboration when it can’t tell who brings what. And you can’t protect your mission’s cultural and programmatic identity inside a shared arrangement if you never pinned down what that identity is in the first place. A strong brand lets you say yes to the right partner, and no to the wrong one, without losing yourself either way.

And here’s the silver lining: the same clarity that makes you distinctive is what makes you easy to partner with. Done right, exceptional and collaborative live in the same brand.

Your October Assignment

The authors suggest building a cross-functional team — artistic, development, marketing, operations — to spot and vet partnership opportunities. Great idea. But before that team ever meets, make sure everyone in the room answers this question the same way:

What is our purpose, and what do we uniquely bring to the table?

If the answers don’t match, start there. That’s the work. We just happen to love helping with it.

Here’s to answers that match,

Laura + Cheryl + Surale

P.S. Wondering whether your brand is partner-ready? Let’s find out together. Book a free Happy Half-Hour consult at hello@thedrmtm.com.

Dear Dreamers and Doers,

This month summer’s officially over, and it’s a shift into a more sober, serious spell of time. “Season” is heating up right as the temperature cools down, and for nonprofits who spend their days sewing the safety net of this country and holding our culture together — the air holds something unsettling. It’s fear. It’s frustration. It’s the low hum of here we go again.

This fall in Florida, we’re staring down a November ballot question that would drastically cut property taxes with no clear plan for where the money for essential and nonprofit services comes from instead. There are lots of complex questions, and no concrete answers, around the massive funding gap this implies. Yet we all want to keep, even improve, our human and cultural services. That’s a value we share.

So why are our values, and our nonprofit missions, always under threat?

Here’s the maddening part: this isn’t a fight among factions. We’re all in agreement here.

Nonprofits are, right now, the most trusted institution in America — trusted more than government, corporations, the media, or even philanthropy itself, according to this year’s national trust survey from Independent Sector and Edelman Data & Intelligence.

In a separate national poll this summer, majorities of voters on the right said they’re more likely to support candidates who work with nonprofits, and nearly half of voters of all stripes said Congress should be listening to the sector more, not less.

So if the public, across the political spectrum, broadly agrees that cause and culture work deeply matters to our wellbeing, why does it feel like futility to get the public will on a ballot or in a budget? What, for crying out loud, do we do? Well, there’s the answer. Cry out loud.

Don’t Shut Up. Speak Your Piece.

Here’s what we tell cause and culture missions in every Bold Brand workshop we teach: a brand doesn’t get remembered for playing it safe. It gets remembered — and trusted, and followed, and funded — when it speaks its piece and stands for what it believes. Live your values out loud. That’s not just what sets a nonprofit brand apart. It’s exactly what this moment is asking of all of us, brand and citizen alike.

None of us has the bandwidth to become a full-time advocate — but we can be vocal. We can vote. We can take an extra thirty seconds when a petition comes around and actually put our names to the things that matter, instead of scrolling past. That’s how the will of the people gets a real shot in the first place — and how leaders start understanding that our nonprofits are off-limits.

Florida Nonprofit Organizations: visit the Florida Nonprofit Alliance to access information and a complete messaging toolkit and templates to address the potential funding crisis related to the proposed property tax amendment on the ballot this November. 

Loud and Proud: Protect Your Nonprofits

So this fall, as the season turns more serious, we’re asking: what’s your organization, your community, doing to make sure your values show up where it counts? We’d genuinely love to hear it — tell us, and let’s trade notes.

We won’t be ignored.

Here’s to Speaking Up and Standing Firm,

Surale + Laura + Cheryl

P.S. Need help finding your organization’s voice so you can really use it? Let’s talk. Reach out for a free Happy Half-Hour at hello@thedrmtm.com.

Dear Dreamers and Doers,

August in Florida is doing what August does: choking the air with humidity thick enough to chew, tropical storms circling like they’ve got nowhere better to be, and every one of us silently counting down to the first cool morning that reminds us Autumn is, allegedly, still a real season. It’s the last gasp of summer, and if you’re like us, you’re running on iced coffee and the stubborn belief that better days (and lower dew points) are ahead.

That’s kind of the point of this month’s letter, actually. Because staying inspired in the muggy in-between has us thinking about aspiration — the thing that keeps us reaching for what’s next even when we’re still sweating through what’s now.

Why We Really Join a Brand

We tell our cause and culture clients all the time: people join causes, give money, and treat brands like family for a lot of reasons — plenty of them generous, plenty of them rooted in genuine belief in the mission. But there’s another motivation running underneath all that goodness, and it’s a little more selfish than we sometimes realize.

We adopt brands that show the world who we are, or who we’re trying to become.

That instinct is aspirational. Somewhere inside, we suspect we’re not quite “there” yet — but we want to be. Maybe you buy the season tickets because you want to be part of the Opera set, even though you’re still figuring out if it’s really your thing. Maybe you write the check because you wish for world peace, even if you wonder whether it’s attainable. Either way, the brand becomes a stand-in for the person you’re aspiring to be.

Can You Build a Brand on Who You’re Becoming?

So here’s the question every organization eventually has to wrestle down to the floor: is it okay — is it even right — to build your brand around aspirational ideas rather than where your operations actually stand today?

Our answer: yes, and no.

Positioning, the marketing term for this, can do two jobs at once. It can state facts, and it can stake a claim. A lot of what makes up your brand is subjective — belief, values, vision — and that’s fair game to shape and shoot for. But whatever you claim has to be backed up by real, visible action, or the people who believed in you will quickly, quietly pack up and leave.

The “no” is about honesty. The “yes” is about hope. Being aspirational as you evolve your brand isn’t a stretch of the truth — it’s a guiding star, your North Star. It tells your staff, board, and community what you’re building toward, even on the days you haven’t arrived yet. It creates a culture where everyone’s dreaming about, and working toward, the same destination.

The North Star Test

That’s strong, solid branding: it speaks to who you are, what you do, what you value, and — maybe most importantly — where you’re going. Because the people who believe in your brand don’t want a transaction. They want to hit the road with you. They want the long haul. As long as you keep your promise.

And here’s the part we love most: while you’re growing, they’re growing too. The inspiration they find in your brand becomes their own adopted aspiration — something they carry forward, live up to, and represent because they found it compelling and good in your work.

Your August Assignment

So this August, as we all ice more coffee and turn toward a coming Autumn, ask yourself: what are you aspiring to be?

Share it. Become it. Let your community hold you accountable to it.

That’s the work. We’re just here to help you chart it — no matter where you’re starting from.

Here’s to Hope and Aspiration,

Laura + Cheryl + Surale

P.S. What are you waiting for??!! We’re REALLY GREAT to talk to. Let’s chat about what’s going on with your brand. Just give us half an hour. Email hello@thedrmtm.com and we’ll get you set up.

Dear Dreamers and Doers,

Here’s something a branding firm thinks about when July 4th rolls around: America has a brand. A big, complicated, gorgeous, occasionally infuriating, wildly resilient brand. And right now, as we pull up to our 250th birthday — the semiquincentennial, if you want to drop the word at a cookout — we’ve been eyeing the official America 250 identity through our expert lens.

Classic, bold type for AMERICA. A swirling ribbon of motion for the 250. We would have thrown in a star, but that’s just us. It gives off exactly what it should: feel-good, forward-facing, big-tent energy.

Is the nation’s brand complicated right now? Sure. It’s always been complicated. But here’s the thing about a truly great brand: its core values and cultural foundation hold even when the customer base is divided, even when the product reviews are mixed, even when people are loudly arguing about what the thing stands for. We’re still invested. We’re still, most of us, pretty loyal consumers. That’s the power of a brand built on something real.

And then there’s this: Stars and Stripes on the FIFA World Cup pitch in what might be the most electric soccer summer this country has ever seen. The US Men’s National Team is still moving through (all of us asking… wait, are we… ACTUALLY GOOD?) to the Round of 32. And longtime soccer fans and brand-new ones alike — are wearing the kit with full conviction. And that, friends, is a branding phenomenon.

When people want to wear a brand, it’s because they feel like they own it, belong to it, and have something to say by putting it on. The American flag has always done this —but this summer it’s doing it with a new kind of collective joy. “We’re all in this together” hits different when there’s a scoreboard.

Coca-Cola knows this playbook by heart. As America 250’s largest corporate sponsor, they’ve released limited-edition collectible mini-cans — one for every state, D.C., and Puerto Rico — each featuring local imagery that says this place matters, these people matter. A Georgia peach. A California surfer. They’re committing to 250,000 volunteer hours nationwide and funding Paint the Nation, a public mural project putting local artists to work telling local stories. And their America 250 campaign? Drink in America. HOW PERFECT IS THAT??!!

And their new Anthem? It’s giving us all the I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke feelings — which, for those of us who were in elementary school for the 1976 Bicentennial, hits with a particular warmth. Coke was there then, too. Some brands just know how to show up for America’s big moments, and that’s never an accident. That’s what decades of emotional investment in community looks like.

As you head into the Fourth this year — whether you’re popping a collectible Coke, cheering on the Stars and Stripes (GO USA!), or pledging a few hours of service at America250— we hope you feel the full force of what a great brand, lived out loud, can do. Happy 250th, America. We’re still rooting for you.

Here’s to 250 More Years of Dreaming Boldly,

Surale + Laura + Cheryl

P.S. Ready to go from fizzle to fireworks? Reach out at hello@thedrmtm.com — a Happy Half-Hour with our team is always on us.

Why cause and culture organizations need more time in the room together. Funders, hear us.

Dear Dreamers and Doers,

We hear it after every workshop. The thing people remember most — the thing they pull us aside to say — is how much they valued the time they spent talking to each other.

In a sector defined by doing more with less, carrying the weight of the world’s most urgent problems on chronically underfunded shoulders, simply sitting in a room with people who get it turns out to be a radical act. A breathing space. A gift. And we at DRMTM have come to believe it is one of the most powerful tools funders never put on the agenda — but should.

During our spring workshop travels we had the privilege of watching it happen in real time — twice. CNY Arts in Syracuse and Extraordinary Charities in Palm Beach County each brought together their nonprofit ecosystems for a day of Bold Brand building. Funders like the Gifford Foundation and the LaFrance Project didn’t just write a check and walk away. They showed up. They sat at the tables. They learned right alongside the organizations they support. The result was something you can’t manufacture: real solidarity. Real recognition. That moment when a director from one organization locks eyes with someone from a “competing” organization and says, quietly, “You too?” — that is worth more than any slide deck we’ve ever built.

“I think the favorite part of the day beyond knowledge-building was the time the orgs had to talk to each other and collaborate — a rare gift.”​
​DRMTM x CNY Arts, Syracuse

Here’s what we know about the people who lead, manage, and champion cause and culture organizations: they are some of the most creative, strategic, fiercely committed professionals in any industry today — and some of the most chronically ignored. Low pay. Relentless pressure to prove impact. Funders who expect organizations to solve generations-old problems on shoestring budgets. A public that loves the mission but rarely sees the machine behind it. Burnout isn’t a failure of will in this sector. It’s a structural condition.

Which is why the energy in these rooms hits different. When you give people doing this work a focused topic and a table full of peers who are carrying the same weight, something quietly transformational happens. They choose trust. They stop surviving and start strategizing. They leave recharged, with tools, with language, and with the knowledge that they are not alone.

This is what collective investment looks like. No single organization carries the cost — funders, service agencies, and community partners come together to give their entire nonprofit ecosystem a capacity-building edge most organizations could never access on their own.

And when funders are in the room learning with the organizations they support — not just funding from a distance — the dynamic shifts. They see the challenges. They feel the passion. They understand what bold, strategic, well-resourced cause and culture organizations can actually do for a community.

We need more of this. A lot more. Whether the topic is brand strategy or budget planning, community engagement or digital communications, our sector grows when it grows together.

If you’re a funder, a service agency, or a community foundation with a network of nonprofits who deserve more than they’re getting — let’s bring them together. Reach out to us at hello@thedrmtm.com and let’s talk about what a day in the room could do for your community.

Here’s to the Conversations That Change Everything,

Surale + Laura + Cheryl

Dear Dreamers and Doers,

Last week, we had the privilege of spending a day touring the community sites of our new client, Boys and Girls Clubs of Martin County. It was one of those days you don’t plan for — the kind that sneaks up on you and quietly changes the way you see everything. What we witnessed, from one site to the next, was the same unmistakable thread running through it all: an absolute, non-negotiable commitment to seeing young people as whole human beings. Not statistics. Not challenges to be managed. People with individual value, potential, and the absolute right to be cared for and invested in. Because you belong to this community, you belong to us.

One of the most unforgettable stops was the Fork in the Road culinary program — their mobile food truck initiative led by Chef Dan Bettencourt, a high-level hospitality chef who could be working in any kitchen in the country. Instead, he chose this one. The culinary program he built gives young people far more than cooking skills: it gives them wages, confidence, and a trade they can carry into a career. Graduates go on to become chefs, restaurateurs, catering professionals, food program managers, and leaders in nonprofit feeding initiatives.

When Chef Dan handed Cheryl and Laura their bottles of Fork in the Road BBQ and pepper sauce — house-made flavor sold right off the truck — we weren’t just receiving a tour gift of condiments. We were holding the culmination of community belief that a young person deserves a special shot. We’ll never look at bottles of sauce the same way again.

This is precisely what we teach in our Bold Brand workshops: people are not loyal to programs. They are loyal to purpose. They connect first with people and meaning, and they stay because something in your story spoke to something in theirs. A bold, human brand doesn’t lead with a list of services — it leads with belief. It says, this is what we stand for, and you are part of why it matters.

The Boys and Girls Clubs of Martin County doesn’t need to work hard to tell that story — it lives in every program, every staff member, every young person who picks up a spatula for the first time and discovers they’re good at something. That authenticity is the foundation every bold brand is built on.

Food, after all, is the original connector. It crosses every divide, sits on every table, and carries the stories of every culture that has ever sustained itself. When a young person learns to master it, they’re learning a skill, yes — but they’re joining a tradition of human nourishment that goes back to the beginning of time. That is a powerful brand truth.

For nonprofits everywhere, the lesson is this: your most compelling brand asset isn’t your logo or your tagline. It’s the human story living at the center of your mission — the Chef Dan who chose you, the young person who found direction at their fork in the road, the jar of hot sauce that made two brand strategists pull over and rethink everything.

Find that story. Tell it boldly. The rest will follow.

Here’s to the stories that change us,

Surale + Laura + Cheryl

P.S. Is your brand telling the human story at the heart of your mission? We’d love to help you find it. Reach out for a free Happy Half-Hour consult at hello@thedrmtm.com.