YMCA holds top nonprofit brand

June 29, 2009

The brand of YMCA of the USA is worth $6.4 billion, making it the most powerful brand in the U.S., a new study says.

The monetary value of the brand is based on the organization's brand image, as measured through a survey of consumers, and a review of five years of the organization's financial data, says the Cone Nonprofit Power Brand 100.

The Salvation Army ranks second, with a brand worth $4.7 billion, while United Way of America ranks third, with a brand worth $4.5 billion.

"Valuing brands gives them a license to demonstrate to companies and other partners that there is an established and justified cost to aligning with their organization," Alison DaSilva, a vice president with Cone, says in a statement.

Among the top 10 are six groups operating in the field of domestic social needs, while two are in the education/youth field and two are health-related charities.

The American Cancer Society, whose brand value of $1.4 billion put it at eighth on the brand power ranking, took top honors on the brand-image list.

However, Catholic Charities USA, which ranked sixth on the brand power scale, ranked 53^rd in brand image, and the Arc of the United States came in ninth on the brand power list, but only 96^th in the brand image ranking.

Other brands with top-10 brand images include American Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity International, American Heart Association and Special Olympics.

Organizations that ranked high in brand image but lower in brand value may not be leveraging their brand images to raise as much revenue as possible, the study says.

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