How can you update a brand across a federated network?

Farra Trompeter: Welcome to the Smart Communications Podcast. This is Farra Trompeter, co-director and worker-owner at Big Duck. In today’s conversation, we’re going to ask the question: How can you update a brand across a federated network? I am delighted to be joined by perhaps one of the most well-known federated networks there is out there, the United Way Worldwide, being joined by Omoiye Kinney, the executive vice president and chief marketing officer for United Way Worldwide, where she’s responsible for developing and implementing dynamic marketing strategies that support 1,000 local United Ways over 30 countries and territories. A long-tenured marketing professional specializing in the nonprofit sector, Omoiye’s previous experience includes senior leadership positions with the YMCA of Greater Charlotte, YMCA of Greater Houston, YMCA of the USA, the Philadelphia Freedom Valley YMCA, the City of Philadelphia, and the American Red Cross. Omoiye holds a Master’s Degree in organizational leadership from Springfield College and an Executive Education certificate from Harvard University. Omoiye, welcome to the show.

Omoiye Kinney: Thank you. Thank you for having me, and I’m really thrilled to be here with you today.

Farra Trompeter: Well, wonderful. For those maybe who are not familiar with United Way, or just to reorient us, here we are in 2026. Can you talk a little bit about the United Way and what it does?

Omoiye Kinney: Absolutely. United Way is one of the world’s oldest and largest nonprofit organizations. As you said, we’ve been around for about 138 years. This year will be 139 years for us. We have representation in more than 1,000 local United Ways globally, with a footprint in 30-plus countries and territories around the world. We serve over 48 million people each and every year. And we are supported by 4.7 million donors, 29,000 community partners, and 45,000 corporate partners. So with all of that, people say, “Okay, but what is it that you really do?”

Omoiye Kinney: And at United Way, we really focus on improving lives by mobilizing the caring power of our communities. Our work is focused on mobilizing support and really focusing on four impact areas. We concentrate on financial security, healthy community, youth opportunity, and community resiliency. And I’ll tell you what really makes us different is that we live where we serve. Within each local United Way, we are deeply connected in the community itself. And so we don’t do our work alone. As I said, we have millions of donors, thousands of community partners, and we bring people, partners, and resources together to tackle complex challenges and improve the systems that shape long-term outcomes. I know that was a mouthful.

Farra Trompeter: That was helpful. It was helpful. Thank you. Well, the United Way Worldwide recently went through a big brand refresh. Can you share a little bit about why you decided to invest the time and money into refreshing your brand? As you said, you know, a lovely 138 going on 139. That’s a big decision: to take an organization that’s been around for a long time, has probably been through other branding processes, but to say, “Now’s the time for a big brand refresh.” Maybe you can talk a little bit about what led you to pursuing that and the approach you took.

Omoiye Kinney: Absolutely. I’ll start with the why, talk about the approach, and really talk about what’s changed for us having gone through this process. So we decided to refresh our brand, really to turn public awareness into a deeper understanding of our actual impact. When you have a storied brand like United Way, with such a long history, it’s really difficult to maintain relevance. So we knew that we had a high perception of awareness. People know us, they recognize us, they see our brand, they know the logo. But if you ask 10 people what it is that United Way does, you’re going to get probably 15 different responses from those 10 people. And so we knew that we needed to help people truly understand what it is and what we do and how we show up in community, while simultaneously rebuilding trust and collaboration across our federated network.

Omoiye Kinney: So when I joined, a recurring theme that I encountered was that while people were aware of our brand, they couldn’t articulate who we are and what we do. So I joined the organization at a time when we were seeing a decline in revenue, giving was down, volunteering was down. We were well known, but misinformation and misunderstanding was a major barrier to engagement with United Way. And it was evident in how we were being perceived and how people talked about United Way. And like I said, the steady decline in revenue really was a driving factor for the major investment into our refreshed brand. So again, rather than understand the value we bring that people were identifying, they were not identifying with our mission. So we knew that we needed to take the time to really say, “Okay, who are we and what can we do to help people truly understand the value that we bring to community?” So that was our why. We really wanted to take the time to refresh the brand. We knew that we wanted to reconnect with our donors and potential donors in the marketplace.

Omoiye Kinney: So the approach that we took was that we took an 18-month data-driven approach, leveraging a massive global brand study, and that we conducted listening tours to really help co-create this refreshed brand with our global network. We spent time understanding the environment our brand lives in, and we really got clear data on a core set of global competitors who are our global competitors around the world so that we would know how we were sort of stacking up against them. And I’ll tell you that the journey really began with deep brand qualitative and quantitative research, starting with a foundational global brand study that sp- spanned across 16 different countries. We had our study translated into 10-plus languages because we really wanted to get a really in-depth understanding of our brand from a global perspective, not just a US-based perspective.

Omoiye Kinney: And this research gave us the data that we needed to level-set with facts and inject the voice of our donors into the brand strategy that was developed. A cornerstone of our approach was engaging our network. We are a federated structure. And so we knew that we needed to work with the network and this had to be owned by the network, not just our corporate headquarters, but this brand refresh had to be part of the culture that we created. So I went on roadshows, conducted listening sessions to gather feedback from internal stakeholders across our global network. And this process of listening, evaluating, and transparently offering solutions really allowed us to co-create a brand that the entire network could get behind. And that’s been a major part of the success. What’s changed for us since we’ve undergone this over the last two to three years is that the brand refresh really took the best of our brand and breathed new life into it.

Omoiye Kinney: We built into the brand infrastructure. We’re refining our brand, just the look, the feel, the visual identity system. We also dove deep into messaging to refine how we talk about who we are and the value that we bring in to community and how we do this through collaborative efforts. Again, because local United Ways deliver bespoke solutions to issues in their communities, we developed those four impact areas to really help clearly define how we talk about what we do and the work that we accomplish in our communities. And then, again, finally, we added in a new layer of insights and a brand health tracker and segmentation. So we’re constantly throughout the year tracking those results about how are we delivering the right message to the right audiences at the right time and via the right channels?

Farra Trompeter: Wow, you’re, you’re speaking all my love language here. I love hearing all of that. And we did not have the pleasure of working with you, but it sounds like everything you went through is very similar to the processes we lead. And I appreciate how much, you know, branding can be transformative even when you don’t change a name. Like you’ve changed everything else. You talked about changing the messaging, the visuals, the sort of experience of the brand across communications channels, which is so powerful.

Farra Trompeter: I do want to acknowledge a few things you mentioned. One is, you mentioned net promoter score. In case people are not familiar with that, if you’ve ever rented a car, which I haven’t done, but that’s what’s come to mind, gone to the dentist, I’ve gotten it from there. You often get a question that says, how likely would you be to recommend us, you know, to a friend or to a colleague on a scale of one to 10? And you pick a number one to 10. Those numbers, one to 10, translate to a score, which then translates to understanding if your customers or your clients or your program participants are likely to be loyal, are going to be brand ambassadors and tell people about you, or, in fact, are going to do nothing or, or worse, be a detractor. So if you’re interested in net promoter score, we’ll be sure to link to an article for folks who want to geek out or get into that if they’re not familiar.

Farra Trompeter: And then you were talking, Omoiye, about building trust across a federated network. So I want to get into that a little bit. You know, I know a lot of people probably have heard of United Way, and some may or may not be familiar with the term federated network. So I’m just wondering if you could just pause for a second, and we’ll come back to the branding experience at United Way Worldwide. But maybe you could explain what a federated network is and how rolling out a brand through a federated network may be different when you’re working with one who might not be in a federated structure.

Omoiye Kinney: Sure. Absolutely. There are great advantages to being in an organization that has a federated structure and some challenges as well. So for those who are not aware of a federated network, it is a group of independent organizations that are connected by a shared mission, brand standards and goals, but each organization maintains its own leadership, its own governance and its own local autonomy and decision-making. So United Way is a federated network. We have a footprint that spans as far as Australia. We have United Ways on every continent except Antarctica, but we are vastly represented. And while a federated network is what makes United Way unique and strong and creates opportunities, as I said, there are challenges within that, especially when you’re rolling out a refreshed brand across a globally federated network. Some of those challenges include aligning independent organizations around that shared vision, and that shared messaging and the rationale for the global brand refresh.

Omoiye Kinney: Another challenge is balancing brand consistency with local autonomy and community relevance, ensuring organizations have the same resources and capacity that may be required to implement changes associated with the brand refresh, managing different adoption timelines across a federated organization, managing different political and governmental structures, that’s key in the success or some of the challenges that can come from the process. And then, of course, driving engagement and buy-in amongst leadership, staff, volunteers, and partners. Those are just some of the challenges that we had to tackle. It was also evident that trust in a federated organization is paramount. You can’t move forward if you don’t have that buy-in, and you have to bring your organization along. So identifying those key touch points and opportunities to really lean into creating that trust.

Omoiye Kinney: I’ll tell you from a personal perspective, when we started this initiative in 2022, the initial meetings that I had with some of our network leaders, they were very challenging. The feedback was direct, and the reception to what I wanted to do was frosty at best. So I had to have a very tough skin going into some of those conversations. But it was clear to me that to move forward and build the kind of brand our mission deserves, we first had to really lean into earning that trust and doing what it took to earn that trust. And that meant holding myself accountable, being very transparent and taking feedback when offered and sometimes when not wanted, and going back and saying, “This is what you told me that you want, and this is why it doesn’t work, or this is why it will work,” or coming to that compromise. So really leaning into the trust factor was paramount to the success that we’ve had at United Way, but for all federated organizations when they’re undertaking such a massive project like a global brand refresh.

Farra Trompeter: Yeah, that’s helpful. And, you know, as I think about federations and organizations that have chapters and affiliates, there’s so many insights and lessons that I hear you sharing. And I think even the idea of centering trust and that listening is true for any organization, right? However they’re structured, that’s so key to good communications, good branding, good fundraising. But I’m wondering if we can just specifically think about any other takeaways you have, particularly in rolling the brand out. So you’ve talked a lot about building the brand and getting that input and listening as you were thinking about how you were going to create things, but what about rolling it out? Can you share some takeaways around, you know, how to effectively roll out a brand across a federated network and any key insights you have for our listeners?

Omoiye Kinney: Sure. Absolutely. I would say one of the first, the key, biggest takeaway is: Start with the why. Before discussing color palettes, logos, messaging, you have to understand why the brand is evolving and why at that time. So my key advice for federated organizations is to co-create from the start, empower early adopters, and always speak with a unified voice to maximize that collective impact. In our case at United Way, the research showed that United Way’s holistic, embedded-in-community approach was a key point of difference that had deep appeal in establishing that singular brand voice. And we also know that brands can be very emotional territory, right? You know, people love their brands and how they show up in community. So to make changes and updates, we at United Way, we had to find what was working and what wasn’t and really lean into what was working and bring everyone else along.

Omoiye Kinney: I would say for non-federated organizations, consider the way your value, mission, and relevance plays into your brand. You know, demonstrating that value, how does your brand create value and reinforce your mission? And also reinforcing relevance is critical. Relevance is core to most brand strategies. It was for United Way. And so leaning into, you know, how do we maintain relevance? How are we continuing to resonate and prove to people why our brand is so powerful and worthy of your time, talent, and treasure, right? And so I would also say a piece of advice for us in particular was taking a phased approach. One of the foundational elements were in place, we focused on collaboration and having that phased approach. Like I said, co-collaboration is critical.

Omoiye Kinney: What we did was we established cross-functional groups of influencers across our organization, and we call them our brand ambassadors. And we trained them, we empowered them to go out and speak on our behalf and really bring their peers along. So it’s not just the information coming from the headquarter organization, but it’s peer-to-peer engagement. That’s also critical. You know, and again, embrace that phased approach, including early adopters. And then strive and build for a unified voice by equipping your network champions and those adopters. And again, in a federated network, a unified voice is critical to build a strong, recognizable brand. We reinforce the need for the network to show up consistently across all of our touch points. And this really helped us to move faster, think bigger, and demonstrate our collective impact more powerfully.

Farra Trompeter: Great. I’m hearing relevance, recognition, resonance, relationships, right? Lots of Rs coming through.

Omoiye Kinney: All the Rs, yes.

Farra Trompeter: All the Rs, all the Rs. Well, I’m going to, you know, one more push for tips and ideas. Are there any other lessons learned you might share about the brand refresh that come to mind?

Omoiye Kinney: There are so many. I would say, again, from a personal perspective, it was really leaning into that collaboration, making sure that you have critical touch points where you’re checking and rechecking and, just kind of going back and building on what you’ve already found to be successful. It’s not always about reinventing the wheel, but sometimes it’s about just listening, taking in that feedback, whether you think you need it at that time or not. It becomes valuable. So I would say those are some of the critical elements of what I learned throughout this process.

Farra Trompeter: Great. You mentioned time, talent, and treasure. Often things we’re thinking about, we’re inviting people to engage with our organization. And I want to talk a little bit about the connection between branding and fundraising. It’s something we think about a lot. And I’m wondering what your take is. How can brand strategy impact fundraising? As we think about branding being an everyday activity and expression, you talked about it showing up, again, across communications channels and everyday conversations and touchpoints. How are you using different channels to engage donors with the United Way Worldwide brand?

Omoiye Kinney: That’s a really good question. And I always, whenever I’m asked about fundraising, I say, “As the chief marketing officer, you know, I have to be joined at the hip with our chief development officer and our development team”. For any organization, that is immensely critical because we are responsible for developing the messaging, but the donor is our intended audience. So ensuring that there is alignment between all of the different marketing strategies that you’re developing and deploying against those different audience segments, those donor audience segments. Through our process at United Way, we use a data-informed approach to identify audiences that are most likely to support us so that we’re developing messaging for the masses, but then we really start to tailor that information to really specific audiences. You referenced when we were talking about that NPS score, right? And so it’s those individuals that are likely to promote us or give to us as opposed to those detractors.

Omoiye Kinney: So really focusing on developing messaging for the right audience, those donors that we’re delivering at the right time through the right channels has been critical. And so the data-informed approach that we’ve instituted, like we now have insights that make our lean marketing budgets and our really small marketing teams help to deliver a greater punch with our messaging to those intended audiences. So within the last six months or so, we began refining our approach after identifying those key audience segments that are most predisposed to support our organization. And this has been a really big step forward for us, but it really takes discipline. And we’re at the beginning stages of that. So discipline, time, and investment to reap the deepest reward of this effort. And so we’re at the early stages. We’re starting to see some really good reactions to the messaging from an engagement perspective. And we’ll be tracking that throughout the rest of the year and into next year. So we’re really leaning into leveraging the data that we have around these audience segments as a strategic compass to help ensure that, again, we’re telling the right stories to the right audiences to really drive that fundraising impact.

Farra Trompeter: That’s great. Well, we’re going to head to wrapping this up. There’s been so many pearls of wisdom you’ve shared. But, you know, as we’re wrapping things up, I’d love it if you can think about perhaps three top things somebody should hold onto. Say I’m a nonprofit leader. I’m thinking about improving my brand perception and performance. What are three things you’d want me to know or take away from this conversation?

Omoiye Kinney: Love that question. And I’ve been giving this a lot of thought. So I would say my top three pieces of advice to any leader or organization that is thinking about undertaking a brand refresh. Number one, brand work, it is not a light lift or a quick fix. We spent 18 months listening, learning, and sharing out information and gathering feedback. So you have to be prepared to invest the time and the resources that’s really needed to be successful in a brand refresh. Number two, brands are fragile, and reputation is built over time. A brand refresh isn’t just about increasing visibility; it’s about increasing resilience. Particularly in an environment where trust can be challenged overnight, you know, it takes one comment to a reporter or one bad post that goes viral. And years and years of goodwill that has been established can just be torn down. So just recognize that your brand is fragile and always promote and protect your brand.

Omoiye Kinney: And then I would say that final piece of advice, and this is what we do at United Way Worldwide, is we learn from other brands. As I referenced, you know, when we were looking at the research, we looked at brands that we would consider our competitors, to see what are they doing successfully and how can we lean into that? So nonprofits, we often think that our brands are uniquely evaluated or experienced differently from consumer brands. And that’s just not the case all the time. So learn from brands that inspire your organization and emphasize the uniqueness of your brand.

Farra Trompeter: I love that. And that last comment picks up actually on the question before. I often, when we’re doing work at the intersection of branding and fundraising, which a lot of our work shows up in; in fact, our founder has a book called Brandraising, to speak to that idea, you know, we often look at who else are your donors supporting. Or who else are your program participants, (not just fundraising.) Who else are they going to for services, right? That’s who you’re showing up in space with. That’s who your supporters, your donors, your volunteers, they’re holding your brand in their mind alongside these others. So how do they communicate? How is your brand both aligned and differentiated in a way that people can hold on and understand you, but also get what’s special about you? So I appreciate that point.

Omoiye Kinney: Exactly. Exactly. And that’s the part where I said, you know, emphasize the uniqueness of your brand. What is it that’s true to you and only you that will help you stand out and resonate in the minds of those donors, funders, volunteers, shareholders, politicians? Because as nonprofit organizations, you know, we all have to engage with local government around funding as well. So that’s critically important.

Farra Trompeter: Great. Well, if you’re out there and you’d like to learn more about United Way’s work and branding, be sure to go to unitedway.org. You can also connect with Omoiye on LinkedIn. We will link to all of this and more in the show notes at bigduck.com/insights. Omoiye, thank you so much for being here today.

Omoiye Kinney: Thank you so much for having me. I’ve really enjoyed this conversation.

Farra Trompeter: Yeah, it was a real pleasure. And everyone, go out there, protect and support that brand, and good luck.