At a webinar that I conducted on nonprofit branding, 26% of nonprofits said that their organizational name does not reflect what they do. I was surprised to learn that it was this high. Two weeks ago, at seminar I conducted at the Support Center, several nonprofit participants expressed the concern that their name was holding them back from pursuing certain donor markets and they didn’t want to isolate their current donor base.
To assess whether your organizational name still works, rate your organization’s name a on 10 point scale for each of these questions:
- Does your name convey what your organization does, or better yet, the benefit your confer?
- Does your name indicate the audiences you serve?
- Does your name distinguish your organization from your competition?
- Is your name short enough to use in regular conversation? (If it is referred to it by its initials, it’s too long)
- Is your name easy to spell and pronounce?
- Does your name inspire confidence?
- Does your name have a positive connotation?
- Does your name have a positive emotional impact?
- Does your name suggest something that people can imagine?
- Does your name appeal to your audiences?
- Does your name allow your organization to expand services?
WAKE UP CALL: If your organization’s name is no longer working, give us a call. We’ll help you do a full assessment that can help determine if you need a name change of if perhaps there are other ways to accomplish your objectives.
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