Strategic Restructuring:
Partnership Options for Nonprofits

Choosing a New Name

Imagine that you are the executive director of a domestic violence agency that just merged with another domestic violence agency. The negotiating committee decided that, as part of the merger, it needed a new name that would embody the agency's strong connection to the Latino community, its commitment to serving all people, and its mission to end domestic violence and abuse in the county where it is located. How do you find the best name for your new agency that that achieves all of these objectives?

One way is to hire a firm that has experience and expertise leading organizations through the process of finding the right name. If you take this route, finding the right firm is critical. As a general rule (there are always exceptions!), large firms tend to be very expensive and may not have much experience working with nonprofits, while small agencies often have more experience with nonprofits and also may be better prepared to work with a nonprofit's limited budget.

Large or small, the process an agency would lead you through to find a new name involves developing an idea of what is important to your organization and its constituents, creating a broad list of name candidates, narrowing the list down based on availability and fit with the criteria, and coaching your agency through the final selection.

If you decide to hire an agency, you need to plan ahead because many agencies are booked well in advance. If you decide not to hire a firm for some reason - such as, you don't have funds in the budget for this, or there aren't any local firms with the right expertise available on your timeline - we have outlined a process that you can facilitate on your own. Burt Alper, Strategy Director of Catchword, www.catchwordbranding.com , a naming agency based in Oakland, CA, recently worked with a client of ours (the one in the example above) and helped us develop this simple, straightforward "do-it-yourself" guide to choosing a new name.

When embarking on this process, Burt emphasizes the importance of selecting the right name. A good name helps an organization secure positive visibility in the community and thus supports its fundraising efforts. The name should differentiate the organization's programs and services from those of its competitors, helping the nonprofit to stand out in its market or community.

As Burt stated, "Nonprofits don't always realize how important it is to choose the right name and how detrimental it can be to work with a difficult name. If the new name is difficult to spell or hard to pronounce, key constituents (financial backers and/or "clients") might not contact the organization. If, unbeknownst to the organization, the name has inappropriate ethnic connotations, entire demographic segments might be offended and thus avoid the organization. The limited promotional budgets of most nonprofits puts even more pressure on the name. It is often their key marketing tool."

Speaking of the experience of helping the domestic violence prevention agency mentioned above to select its new name, Burt told us: "They were so proud of their new name! They developed beautiful new marketing materials to support the new name, and used it as an opportunity to re-establish relationships with the community, clients, donors, funders, and the media, and to build new relationships."

The process outlined below is designed to help guide organizations to the selection of a new name.

According to Burt, "The secrets to successfully renaming an organization are 1) objectivity 2) selective democracy, and 3) decisiveness." Each of these three principals is outlined in detail below. Even if you don't follow these exact steps, keep the three basics (above) in mind from start to finish.

Phase 1: Establish a committee and naming parameters:

Objective: To create a naming committee that represents all of the organizations' stakeholders. Explain the entire process clearly to ensure understanding, and to establish consensus on the process and the parameters.

• The naming committee should include representatives from all parts of the organization, including the executive director, key staff leaders, board members, and even clients or community stakeholders. An inclusive process will facilitate adoption of the final name at the end of the process because those involved in the naming process are more likely to support the final decision. And, by extension, if others outside the process view it as inclusive, they will be more likely to be supportive. However, the key to "selective democracy" (an essential aspect of a successful process) is that the committee, while soliciting input, must have the authority to make decisions .
• Talk clearly and openly about why you are choosing a new name, and develop a message to respond to anyone who asks why you are not adopting one of the existing names for the agency.
• The committee's first step should be to develop specific naming parameters which will help in objectively determining whether a proposed name will meet the organization's needs. These should include desired messages and specifications for the new name. You may decide to host a few focus groups with external stakeholders (such as clients, funders, donors, and other community stakeholders) to inform the determination of the parameters. For example, a domestic violence counseling agency that works with large numbers of Latino families might include "name recognition in Spanish." You should identify between 4 and 6 naming parameters.
• Develop a work plan and timeline.

Phase 2: Development of Name Candidates

Objective: To develop an informal environment where people can casually submit their ideas. The end result will be a list of at least 250 name candidates. The naming committee should host a brainstorming session for the entire staff. In your communications with meeting participants, make sure that you are asking for feedback, not a decision, but that their ideas are important. Be clear that the final decision will be made by the board, with the committee narrowing down the selection for presentation to the board. This is an opportunity to explain the reasons you've decided to choose a new name and to lay out the process that will get you there. This session should emphasize the naming parameters established in the previous phase of work. Make it clear to all participants that you are looking for a name that does more than just sound nice; it has to achieve the objectives outlined above. Make sure that staff members know when and how they can continue to submit ideas after the meeting is over, and specify the time frame during which names can be submitted.

Phase 3: Distillation

Objective: To strategically reduce the list from about 250 to about 30 names.

• Create one master list of name candidates and delete any duplicates.
• Delete any names that do not meet at least one of the naming parameters.
• Check the Internet for current use of the remaining name candidates and delete any names that are already in use by other organizations. Use caution: If a name is in use outside your organization's functional area but is well-known, or if a name is likely to be confused with an existing businesses or nonprofit, this is reason to consider deleting it from the list.
• Bring this distilled list (about 100 names) back to the naming committee for discussion and use a voting system to reduce the list to approximately 30 names (keep the top vote-getters).
• Schedule a subsequent meeting where committee members discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the current candidates. Further reduce the list to 15 candidates using the same voting system.
• Conduct preliminary availability screens on chosen candidates. This includes review of U.S. Federal trademarks (check for names under trademark or those that have filed at www.uspto.gov ) as well as further Internet searches. This screening process should further reduce the list. The list should now contain approximately 10 names.
• At the final committee meeting, allow time for committee members to advocate on behalf of one name. Use a voting system to reduce the list to 3 names.

Phase 4: Delivery

Objective: To present the board with a list of three names and to have them select the finalist.

• Select and present a list of three names to a trademark attorney for a full legal search before you approach the board .
• Discuss results of attorney searches and present the remaining (available) names to the board for final selection.