Why Brand Essence Is Key to Writing Powerful Fundraising Copy
Imagine you’re at a dinner party. You’re seated next to someone who spends the entire night talking about themselves—listing their achievements, rattling off their job title, and throwing in a few vague buzzwords about how they “strive for excellence.”
Are you engaged? Inspired? Ready to connect?
Or are you looking for a stick to gouge your eardrums out?
This is exactly how many fundraising appeals feel to donors. They talk about what the organization does, pat themselves on the back, and throw in some feel-good language—without ever answering the most important question: Why should the donor care?
Great fundraising isn’t just about making an ask. It’s about making the donor feel something—about giving them a clear reason to act.
And that starts with knowing your brand’s essence.
(Note: I’d be remiss not to mention that my understanding of brand essence has been shaped by Scott Bedbury’s “brand mantra” philosophy (New Kind)—an approach instilled in me by my brilliant former colleague at Dunham+Company, Elizabeth West.)
Because your brand isn’t just a logo. It’s not just a tagline. It’s the feeling people get when they engage with you. And if you don’t know what that feeling is, neither will your audience.
So before you build another campaign, rewrite your mission statement, or tweak your website copy, ask yourself:
Do I actually know the essence of my brand?
Because the most successful brands—whether corporations, nonprofits, or churches—aren’t the ones with the biggest budgets or the savviest marketing. They’re the ones that know exactly who they are.
That’s the power of brand essence—the DNA of your brand. Your brand essence is your fundamental identity, one that shapes every decision, interaction, and experience. And just like you don’t create DNA, you don’t create your brand essence. You uncover it.
Here’s how to find your brand essence, and how you can use it to make your fundraising copy more compelling.
What makes up a brand essence?
Every brand has an essence—a core truth that defines it. And it’s made up of three key elements:
Emotion: What do people feel when they engage with you?
Value: What do you hold most dearly?
Product: What do you deliver, over and over?
Uncovering these elements makes your brand clear, compelling, and trustworthy. Neglect them, and your brand becomes muddled—which leads to disengagement, inaction, and missed opportunities.
It’s also worth noting that brands rarely lose their essence on purpose. Instead, they gradually drift away from who they are through a series of small, well-meaning decisions that dilute what made them special in the first place.
Starbucks and Disney are two major brands that experienced this exact shift.
Starbucks: When efficiency came before experience
For years, Starbucks thrived by creating more than just a place to buy coffee. It was a “third place”—a space between work and home where people could relax, connect, and linger—which was a product of its Rewarding Everyday Moments brand essence.
Then came mobile ordering, drive-thrus, and Covid-era shifts, and the coffeehouse experience started to disappear. Customers ordered ahead, grabbed their drinks, and left. Locations became transaction hubs instead of welcoming spaces.
New CEO Brian Niccol quickly saw the issue, acknowledging:
“I think we got confused that mobile ordering could solve the entire business.” (Business Insider)
The real problem? Starbucks prioritized efficiency over experience—and it backfired.
How Starbucks’ obsession with mobile ordering hurt the brand
Mobile ordering and drive-thrus made sense—until they took over. Instead of supporting Starbucks’ essence, they started to replace it.
If you visited a Starbucks in recent years, you probably noticed:
The “mosh pit” effect: Instead of making things smoother, mobile ordering made stores more chaotic. Pickup areas became crowded with frustrated customers waiting for drinks that weren’t ready, leading to what former CEO Howard Schultz called a “mosh pit” problem.
The app became an Achilles’ heel: Instead of enhancing the brand, Starbucks’ app eroded trust. Customers would get notifications that their drink was ready—only to show up and wait another 10 minutes. The very system designed to improve efficiency was making the experience worse.
Starbucks stopped feeling like Starbucks: A company built on warmth and community suddenly felt transactional. Employees were rushed. Customers felt unseen. The heart of the brand was fading.
What happened next? Customers started walking away.
In fact, by mid-2024, 1 in 7 or 8 customers abandoned their order because their Starbucks was too crowded. By the end of the year, Starbucks saw a 7% drop in Q4 U.S. sales—a sharp decline that signaled a deeper issue.
How Starbucks is fixing the problem
Niccol, no idiot, summarized Starbucks’ problem and solution by saying:
“You have to protect the integrity of your brand—that’s what I’m getting back to doing.” (Fortune)
So, to realign with its Rewarding Everyday Moments essence, Starbucks has launched several key initiatives:
Fixing the “mosh pit” chaos: Pickup areas are being redesigned to make them more intuitive and less stressful for customers and employees.
Bringing back the coffeehouse vibe: Starbucks is re-centering on comfort and connection, and treating stores as places to have a shared moment—not just grab-and-go stops.
Fixing mobile order timelines: Starbucks is revamping its app to let customers schedule their pickup time to reduce unnecessary congestion and confusion.
Decluttering stores: 30% of menu items are being cut to speed up service and reduce employee burnout.
No more uncharge for non-dairy milk: A small but symbolic move that shows Starbucks is listening to customers again.
The message is clear: Starbucks is recommitting to what made it great—not just selling coffee, but creating a place where people feel welcome, comfortable, and connected.
Niccol’s leadership is about realigning technology with the brand’s identity rather than letting efficiency dilute what made Starbucks special in the first place.
And if the turnaround works, Starbucks won’t just fix its operations—it will restore its brand, and actually become a place we choose to share a moment with others again.
Disney: When politics came before entertainment
For nearly a century, Disney was the gold standard for storytelling. The company’s essence wasn’t political activism—it was Fun Family Entertainment.
But in recent years, Disney started prioritizing politics over its core product. It became deeply involved in cultural debates, took strong stances on divisive social issues, and produced content that felt more agenda-driven than audience-driven.
As a result, Disney began losing something it had always taken for granted: trust.
Families who once saw Disney as a safe, magical escape started feeling alienated. Longtime fans felt like they were being lectured instead of entertained. Even employees inside the company warned that Disney was losing touch with its audience.
Disney’s stock took a hit. Box office numbers fell. Theme park attendance declined.
Bob Iger, returning as CEO, addressed the issue directly:
“Our primary mission needs to be to entertain. It should not be agenda-driven.” (Los Angeles Times)
That statement marked a turning point. Disney was admitting what millions of people already knew—somewhere along the way, it had forgotten what business it was in.
How Disney is rebuilding its brand essence
Refocusing on theatrical releases: Disney is moving back to high-quality, event-driven films rather than churning out content for streaming.
Improving theme park accessibility: Addressing pricing concerns and enhancing in-park experiences to restore the magic.
Prioritizing core franchises: Disney is strengthening beloved properties instead of overextending them.
Reducing agenda-driven content: Shifting away from political messaging in favor of stories that focus on universal themes and timeless entertainment. (Forbes)
Disney is in the process of recommitting to its identity, and if all goes to plan, a return to Fun Family Entertainment will reignite audience loyalty.
Do you even know what your brand essence is?
If you’re struggling to grow, losing engagement, or feeling stuck, before you ask, “How do we fix this?” ask this instead: “Do we even know who we are?”
Emotion: What do people feel when they engage with us?
Value: What do we hold most dearly?
Product: What outcome do we provide—again and again?
For nonprofits, this might mean revisiting what first made people passionate about your mission.
For churches, this might mean recognizing whether your focus has shifted from discipleship to programming.
What if you’re not the one defining the brand?
Now, maybe you’re reading this and thinking, “I don’t set the brand strategy. That’s above my pay grade.”
That’s fair—but you’re not powerless.
Even if you don’t have the authority to define your organization’s brand essence, you can influence how people experience it every day.
Every social post you write, every email you send, every appeal you craft—they all shape how your audience perceives your brand.
So if something feels off, start paying attention. Ask yourself:
Are we evoking the right emotions in our audience?
Do we actually know what we value most?
Is our core product obvious, or are we trying to be too many things?
If you’re seeing disconnects, you don’t have to call an all-staff meeting or push to rewrite your mission statement. Just start asking better questions, and reflect those answers in the work you do.
Because even if you’re not the one setting the vision, you can help make sure it’s clear, consistent, and actually felt.
Know your essence, or risk losing everything
Starbucks and Disney both learned the hard way: When a brand drifts, people notice and income suffers.
But when a brand uncovers or recommits to its essence, it doesn’t just regain lost ground—it comes back stronger.
Starbucks isn’t just about coffee—it’s about Rewarding Everyday Moments.
Disney isn’t just a theme part operator or movie studio—it makes the world a more magical place through Fun Family Entertainment.
So stop. Step back. And ask:
Do you actually know your brand’s essence?
Because whether you’re leading a global company, a nonprofit, or a church, one truth remains:
If you don’t know what your brand stands for, no one else will either.
