• Contact Us

Brand Management - Why You Should Protect Your Charity Brand

on Friday, 01 July 2016.

Brand management is key - we set out simple steps charities can take

With increasing competition for donations, many charities are investing heavily in brand development to achieve positive distinctiveness.

It is vital that this investment is safeguarded by securing the best possible legal protection and through active brand management.

Brand Protection

Brand names are protected legally, either by the registration of a trade mark or through goodwill belonging to their owner (known as 'common law trade mark rights' or 'passing off'). However, registration is the most advantageous method.

What is a registered trade mark?

The most common trade marks are names, graphical designs or logos. They must be sufficiently distinctive to be registrable. Trade marks are registered by reference to classes of goods and services. The most relevant classes in the charities sector are likely to be education and scientific/technological services/research/design.

A trade mark is potentially the most long lasting of all intellectual property rights, as it continues indefinitely, provided the owner pays the renewal fees every ten years and no one challenges it.

What are the advantages of registering a trade mark?

A significant advantage is that it gives the brand owner exclusivity in the registered territory. It is also easier to take legal action against infringers if the owner has a registered mark: a person relying on passing off has to prove they own the brand by showing they have properly established (or acquired) the goodwill. Passing off rights are also geographically limited to the area or region in which the brand has been used, whereas a registered trade mark will cover a whole territory.

While these hurdles may not be too onerous for an established charity, the name associated with a new project could be harder to protect because there may not have been time to develop a reputation and goodwill in it. It is far better to register a new brand name at an early stage. The registration process itself also enables the brand owner to check for conflicts, ensuring that the name is genuinely available and capable of being registered.

Brand Management

The UK register of trade marks reveals that some charities have a number of different brand identities registered. This raises the question of how effective charities are at managing their brands to achieve consistency. Consistent application and use of a brand is important in ensuring that it remains recognisable and distinctive and, from a legal perspective, protectable.

It may be appropriate for charities to appoint a single officer with responsibility for trade mark matters, and to communicate brand guidelines and policies designed to control use, ensure consistency and maintain distinctiveness. An accidental failure to apply the brand in the form of its registration could in itself lead to revocation, so details matter.

A regular audit of the use of trade marks and branding may also be sensible to ensure that:

  • valuable marks are registered in the right classes and territories
  • they are held by the right organisation within a group of legal entities
  • new initiatives are protected
  • outdated or obsolete marks are removed from renewal processes

Charities should also consider what protection is needed in other territories. When a charity enters into a joint venture in another jurisdiction, it should consider what steps to take to protect its brand in that jurisdiction. The risk of damage to brands in the hands of partners and collaborators is all too obvious, and wherever a charity allows another person to reproduce its branding, the terms and scope of such use should be agreed up front, and clearly recorded.

Effective brand management must also include other stakeholders who retain a sense of ownership. Charity re-branding exercises have been known to trigger widespread criticism in social media from supporters and other stakeholders, who feel excluded from the process and hostile to change. In any such process, careful communication from the cahrity's marketing and management teams is key, with assistance from marketing specialists, lawyers and senior managers where appropriate.


For more information, please contact our Charity Law specialist Paula Williams on 0117 314 5616.