Heart to Heart Listed among America’s
Most Powerful Nonprofit Brands

OLATHE, Kan./June 26, 2009 — Heart to Heart International Inc., a leading global humanitarian organization, today announced that it was ranked among the Cone Nonprofit Power Brand 100, coming in at #75 overall. Two other Kansas City-based nonprofits joined Heart to Heart on the list.

“We’ve always known that our name generates a strong emotional appeal,” said Jon D. North, Heart to Heart’s CEO. “This report simply validates the power of our brand in attracting volunteers, strategic partners and financial supporters to our cause of creating a healthier world.”

Cone, a global branding firm based in New York City and a business unit of marketing conglomerate Omnicom Inc., produced the first-year study in collaboration with U.K.-based Intangible Business, a leading brand-valuation consultancy. Together, they researched and ranked hundreds of nonprofits across the United States on such criteria as relative strength of nonprofit’s brand image, current revenue streams, and compound annual growth rates (which helped determine the nonprofit brand’s long-term ability for growth.

The unique component of the Cone study is the value placed on a brand’s image, measuring consumer perception—both familiarity and personal relevance—of each organization from a sample of 1,000 adults across America. The strength of the brand image was also calculated from a set of data, including editorial coverage, geographic reach, volunteer support, direct public support, donor efficiency, and growth in revenue year-over-year.

Based on Cone’s research, Heart to Heart’s brand is valued at $62 million. According to Cone, “brand valuation” is the amount a nonprofit would be willing to pay for its brand, if it did not already own it, determined by how much support the brand generates for the organization.

The name “Heart to Heart” is attributed to Keith Johnson of Olathe, Kansas, who shortened the original name—a gift from the heart of America to the heart of Russia—of the organization’s first project, a medical airlift from Kansas City to Moscow. The current brand identity was developed by Premier Studios of Lenexa, Kansas, and its brand position is being strengthened by Kansas City-based VML.