EP 76: How to Build a Brand That Drives Long-Term Fundraising Growth with Donna Lucas

In this episode of The Responsive Lab, Carly and Scott sit down with Donna Lucas, Chief Marketing and Development Officer at Joni and Friends. Donna spent decades in consumer products marketing at brands like Adidas, K-Swiss, and Dickies before making the jump to the nonprofit world.

Her core belief? Planting comes before the harvest. Brand awareness has to come before the fundraising ask.

You'll hear about:

• Why being "the best-kept secret" is actually a failure
• How Donna convinced her CFO to spend 60% of the budget on brand awareness
• The first steps to take once leadership says yes to brand investment
• How Joni and Friends used Instagram to cultivate an audience for two years before asking for anything
• Why internal alignment matters before you launch anything externally
• How to measure brand impact in ways leadership can understand and trust

Donna also shares how the team achieved a 12% increase in fundraising revenue the first year after their rebrand and why momentum became the proof that kept the strategy moving forward.

Links from the episode:

• Connect with Donna on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donnamlucas/
• Learn more about Joni and Friends: https://joniandfriends.org/