CREATING A NAME, ARTICULATING YOUR MISSION By Nathaniel Whittemore

WHATS IN A NAME? Starting Thoughts Mathatma Ghandi once said, Im gonna be so damn famous I wont even NEED two names. Or maybe that was Madonna. Or Prince. Or no one. Who knows. The point is and this is a lesson the symbolically inclined Prince could certainly tell you a name is much more than words that describe you and your organization. Its the central marker of your organizational soul; the words in which you invest meaning and importance, and upon which the world in which youre trying to make a change will dump both its baggage and its excitement. Google doesnt just mean a search tool and some cool features, its a word-gateway into the exploding world of internet technology and commerce. The United Nations doesnt just mean a set of nations united around common causes, it means revolutionary human concern and cooperation (or blistering inefficiency, depending on who you ask). Your name is at the very heart of your enterprise. It is who you are, it takes on the meaning you give it and meanings you dont have any control over. While it may seem perfunctory, taking the time to think about your name that word or set of words you stamp on everything you do is one of the most foundational steps you can take towards making a real impact in the world. Breaking it Down: Tone and Functionality As we dig into this discussion of names, its important to take a step back and think about how the name you choose will actually function in the world and the tone it will give your enterprise. Tone: People choose names with different tones to reflect a certain organizational style and approach to the world. Whether you hope to invest your organization with the utmost seriousness of the issue you seek to address, inspire followers to join something epic, or appeal to people who think that nonprofit work doesnt have to be overly self-righteous to be serious will come through in the name you choose. Purposeful: Doctors Without Borders Playful: Just Nave Enough Up-to-date: Change.org There are dozens of other labels you could apply to names, as well. The point is simply to think about what the tone of your name conveys about your style. Although its far beyond

the scope of this chapter to discuss, institutional culture is an extremely powerful force. The best example might be Google, whos playful attitude runs from their goofy name to their guiding principle (Dont Be Evil.) to their dress code to the legos on their board room table to the way they run their business and encourage their employees to spend time developing new applications that are interesting and fun to them. Even if you decide the most appropriate tone is playful, take the decision seriously! Function: Names can have many different functions in presenting your organization to the world. Your name might be: Exhortative it is a call to action. Save the Endangered Dingo Descriptive it gives information about your groups activities or how it functions Save the Endangered Dingo Through Film, Exclusive it defines the membership of your group Vegan Single Parents for Saving the Endangered Dingo Referential it references another name or organization to add credibility, suggest an approach, or identify institutional alliances The World Wild Life-Vegan Single Parents Fund for Saving the Endangered Dingo Bad Names Given that the above lesson suggests there isnt any one right way to pick a name, you might be surprised to find out that there are certainly a lot of big name goofs to avoid and things you can make sure you dont do when picking a name. Because the name is the heart of your enterprise, when you have a bad name, its potentially seriously damaging for your credibility, your ability to recruit dedicated participants, fundraise, etc. Here are some of the biggest name no-nos Name No-No #1: Hackneyed Words/Phrases Especially in the world of nonprofits, nothing is more annoying than names which sound like everything else. This is, in part, because it draws our attention to the fact that far too many organizations exist, and far too few of them are good. Obviously there are certain words that tend to come up more than others (international for example), but the more you can avoid relying on tired phrases and words, the more youre going to begin to distinguish your organization from the mass of other groups. Phrases to Avoid: _______ without Borders Medecins San Frontiers (Doctors Without Borders) is not only the granddaddy of latter-day humanitarian organizations, its also the granddaddy of great names. Because of this, everyone and their mom has started an organization that uses the phrase without borders at some point in their life. Move past it. LESSON: THERE IS NO BEST WAY TO PICK A NAME People choose names in a variety of tones, to perform a variety of functions, and for a variety of reasons. Whats important to understand is why you choose the name you do and how it connects to both the goals and style of organization

Students for ____________ Since the early 1960s and the Students for A Democratic Society, this has been the classic rallying cry of disaffected twenty-somethings: Students for something. This is another great name that has worn out its welcome. Use with Caution: The following is a list of words that arent necessarily no-nos, but which come up so frequently (and so often, as in the use of global or international actually misrepresents the scope or focus of the organization) that its important to be very careful when you try to use them in an organization name: International Global World Aid Change Innovation Empower Relief Assistance Movement Help SOUNDING GOOD MATTERS I sometimes think to myself, You know, the doctors at MSF still DO have borders, they just get much better at crossing them. I wonder then, how well does their name really represent them? Of course, names have to sound good. They have to have that special ring that makes them roll of your tongue and stick in your brain. Can you imagine if their name was, Doctors Better at Crossing Borders than Average Citizens Who Want to Help? No one can. Remember, sounding good matters.

Name No-No #2: Words that Mean Something You Dont Mean Them to Mean One of the most prevalent problems with names is when people use a word in their organization title that suggests something incorrect about the function of the organization. Example: The Innovation Network The Innovation Network sounds like it would be a social entrepreneur institute, a funder or trainer of innovative change agents, etc. In reality, it is an organization that sells impact assessment tools. This isnt to suggest that impact assessment isnt an important part of innovation, but its certainly not what you think of first. Example: Genocide Intervention Fund GIF started as an organization raising money directly for African Union peacekeepers in Darfur. As it began to extend its mission to advocacy, education, and other activities, it recognized that its name was limiting and switched to the Genocide Intervention Network. Name No-No #3: Try-Too-Hard Acronyms One of the most common (and annoying) problems of college student group naming is when students choose names explicitly to have a specific acronym. Cruise through any university student group directory and youll have to fight the urge to laugh at the quantity of L.E.A.D.s, H.E.L.Ps, R.E.A.D.s, Y.O.U.T.H.s etc. Like Students for Change Without Borders, we all go through this phase, but that doesnt mean we cant move past it. Do you think your parents named you so youd have cool initials? Unless your name is Stephen Thomas Denton or Amanda Stephanie Smith and your dad tricked your mom, probably not.

Choosing a Name More than anything else, the above guidelines, No-nos, and categories are tools to help you review, evaluate, or change the ideas for names that you have. The process for creating a name varies from group to group, but here are some helpful tips for finding or developing that perfect name 1. What is the structure of your organization? Are you a project, an institute, a community, a group, an initiative, a fund, a coalition? Knowing this can help you frame your organization. Say you want to prevent Gecko abuse, knowing whether youre a short term initiative or project, vs. a coalition working to prevent abuse vs. a fund raising money to aid the prevention of abuse, etc. can help you name your organization. Examples: Coalition, Institute MacArthur Foundation, Save Darfur Asset Based Community Development IMPORTANT STEPS When you feel like youve got that name that just might be the one, here are some important steps to take before you finalize your decision:

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2. What do you care most about? What is it that really matters to you? What is the word or phrase you want people to associate with your organization? These are words that might very well fit into your name. Examples: Americans for Informed Democracy, Center for Global Engagement, Foundation for Sustainable Development 3. What do you do?

Google it: make sure that there isnt another Gecko Abuse Prevention Society operating somewhere else. 2. Try it out on people: tell people its your name and see what their gut reaction is. 3. Give yourself the chance to sit with it: try to move on and think about other things for a while give yourself space away

What is the type of activity youre involved in? Is it humanitarian assistance, capacity building, something else? The type of activity you get yourself involved in might dictate a part of your name. Examples: Teach for America, Genocide Intervention Network 4. Who are your core constituencies of members or supporters? Are you a faith-based organization? Are you a member organization that draws from a specific professional field? This might help you distinguish your organization as well. Examples: American Jewish World Service, Journalists for Human Rights, Doctors Without Borders Conclusion: On page 326 of his Bury the Chains: the British Struggle to Abolish Slavery, Adam Hochschild conveys a story of one inauspicious naming. In the early decades of the 19 th century, a Birmingham woman who wanted to form a womens anti-slavery society wrote to

Thomas Clarkson, the leading English abolitionist of the day, asking him for suggestions for naming her group. He suggested the name: Female Society for ameliorating the condition of Female Slaves in the British Colonies, but with a view ultimately to their final emancipation there. Even in one of the worlds first great international social movements, they were thinking deeply about names. Luckily for you, the fashions have changed a bit and a simple 2-4 words should be just fine for you. Remember, however, that no matter how short and sweet, your name is IMPORTANT. Take the time you need to think about it before you commit. UNDERSTANDING MISSION STATEMENTS Overview: If your name is the heart of your enterprise, your mission is its soul. Your mission is the sentence or two that says, without pretense or reservation, what it is that you do and care about. It is the thesis statement for the novel of your action. But its more than just a tool for others to understand and differentiate your organization, its also the most important statement you have for making important organizational decisions like who you do and dont partner with, how you allocate scarce resources, how you prioritize your programs. More so than names, missions are often muddled in vague language that reflects the difference between having good intentions and understanding how to put those intentions into practice. It is vital to both your sense of self and your sense of place in the world of change that you have a mission which focuses and guides your operations. This part of the chapter will briefly walk you through some general characteristics of a great mission, review some missions that exemplify these characteristics, and then provide you will some activities to think about developing your mission. What do you seek to do? As you read through this section, keep in mind that at its core, your mission articulates what you seek to do in the world; the problem you seek to solve or the change you wish to create. More than just description, your mission is an articulation of your organizations goals and its beliefs about what can be achieved. Characteristics of a great mission While not every great mission will embody the characteristics listed below, understanding each of them and why they are important to your mission is indispensable as you try to articulate your own mission. Succinctness Your mission should not use more words than it needs to get its point across. A good mission will cut to the chase. This doesnt mean you cant have descriptive language or use a sentence or two to set the scene before you deliver the punch, but dont spend a lot of time trying to describe the how or why of what you aim to do. Clarity

However many words you use, the words you choose need to be clear and easy to understand. Stay away from jargon and technical terms. Try to find words that convey your meaning precisely and that dont have ambiguous meanings. Focus Your mission statement must focus the myriad activities upon an easily communicable central statement of purpose. Dont try to fit more in than you need; find that core idea that underlines everything you attempt to do. Missions:1 The best way to get a sense of what a good mission sounds like is to read as many as you can. What follows is a sampling of missions from young organizations, as well as a short analysis of each. Americans for Informed Democracy: Americans for Informed Democracy (AID) is a non-partisan 501(c)(3) organization that brings the world home through programming on more than 1,000 U.S. university campuses and in more than 10 countries. AID fulfills its mission by coordinating town hall meetings on America's role in the world, hosting leadership retreats, and publishing opinion pieces and reports on issues of global importance. Through these efforts, AID seeks to build a new generation of globally conscious leaders who can shape an American foreign policy appropriate for our increasingly interdependent world. The good: The final sentence situates both what AID seeks to develop (a new generation of globally conscious leaders) and why (to shape an American foreign policy appropriate for our increasingly interdependent world). The not-as-good: The phrase brings the world home doesnt have clear meaning outside of this statement and therefore might confusing. Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group: Roughly 2 billion people do not have access to basic services such as electricity, clean drinking water and sanitation. Development of this infrastructure is essential to breaking the cycle of poverty in developing countries. The Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group (AIDG) works to provide rural villages in developing countries with affordable and environmentally sound technologies that meet these needs. Through a combination of business incubation, education, training, and outreach, the AIDG helps individuals and communities gain access to technology that will improve their lives. Our model provides a novel approach to sustainable development by empowering people with the physical tools and practical knowledge to solve infrastructure problems in their own communities. The good:
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We decided to use real examples because they offer something much more real than we could come up with on our own. That said, each of these organizations represents an incredible group of people doing incredible work, and no criticism with the missions found below should in any way indicate anything less than total admiration for each of these organizations.

The words used are clear and provides the organization focus around a common core of providing technology to improve lives. The not-as-good: The mission is simply too long, and contains more information than is needed for a mission, including a significant amount of how that is better placed elsewhere. Reworked: The Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group (AIDG) works to provide rural villages in developing countries with affordable and environmentally sound technologies that meet basic needs such as electricity, clean drinking water and sanitation. Through a combination of business incubation, education, training, and outreach, the AIDG helps individuals and communities gain access to technology that will improve their lives. Genocide Intervention Network: The Genocide Intervention Network envisions a world in which the global community is willing and able to protect civilians from genocide and mass atrocities. Our mission is to empower individuals and communities with the tools to prevent and stop genocide. The good: This is a model of succinctness, clarity, and focus. It articulates who the organization is focused on empowering and to what ends. It uses easily understood words, and provides a framework for focusing a myriad of activities. The not-as-good: Not much Interfaith Youth Core: Interfaith Youth Core seeks to build a movement that encourages religious young people to strengthen their religious identities, foster inter-religious understanding and cooperate to serve the common good. The good: Like the GIN mission, the IFYC mission is a model of succinctness, clarity, and focus. Moreover, the IFYC mission is a good example of how a mission can articulate a set of goals and bring them together under the overarching banner of the organization. For IFYC strengthening religious identities, fostering interreligious understanding and cooperation to serve the common good are all central and mutually reinforcing components of their mission, which organize and situate a myriad of activities. VISION VS. MISSION The GIN mission successfully leverages the power of a vision. The difference between a vision statement and a mission statement is simple but often confused. Your vision is your sense of the world that should be. Your mission is the action you try to take to achieve the vision.

HOW YOU GOIN DO IT? When you share your mission with people, one of the first questions you will be asked is well, how you going to do that? There is a tendency for young people writing missions to confuse means and ends, and often, we include those means (the how) in our mission statements. Remember that at its core, your mission is about the change you seek to make, NOT necessarily how you plan on making it.

The not-as-good: Not much WRITING YOUR MISSION STATEMENT When you really come down to it, the question that matters more than anything else in writing your mission is: What do you care most about? Most young organizations articulate missions much broader than they should be, and which would suggest an organizational capacity much greater than is the case. So what do you care most about? At the end of the day, what does your organization seek to do and for whom? What is your calling? Articulate this and youve got your mission Questions to help you in this process: While the question of what you care most about is at the core of your mission, there are a number of constituent questions that can help you get to that answer. 1. What is the problem youve identified? What is the problem you seek to fix, the gap you intend to fill? For the Center for Global Engagement, its that young people increasingly recognize our global problems as shared across borders and are attempting to use their energy and talent to create change, but dont have the educational resources to prepare themselves to create long-lasting change. 2. What does the world look like with that problem solved (Write your vision) A great tool to help you write your mission is to articulate your vision. Articulating a vision is often easier for young people: what does the world look like with your problem solved? For CGE, its a world in which students who care about the world have access to the learning resources they need to fully leverage their passions and energies to create change. 3. Who or what is the focus/subject/beneficiary of this activity Who is the focus of the activity you seek to take? Whats the group, community, or type of people you work with to better achieve your vision? For the CGE, its young people who care about global problem solving. 4. What is the underlying type of activity youd like to engage in to help contribute to the realization of that world? Given that youve identified the community you want to work with, what do you want to do with them? Is it capacity building and education? Is it direct provision of service? For CGE, our fundamental activity is educational; we build students capacities to engage with change. At the end of the day, most missions are eloquent combinations of the answers to questions three and four. GIN does capacity building (i.e. provides tools for stopping genocide) for US citizens. AIDG provides services (i.e. provides technology to resolve basic problems) for rural communities in the developing world. Walk through these questions for your own

organization or initiative and see if you can combine your answers into a mission that meets the criteria of succinct, clear, and focusing. CENTER FOR GLOBAL ENGAGEMENT MISSION The Center for Global Engagement builds the capacity of young people to cross borders of nation, race, faith, and more to develop responsible, sustainable solutions to shared global problems. MISSION DEVELOPMENT TUTORIAL You and a group of friends have noticed that people treat squirrels very poorly on your campus. Squirrels are often subject to verbal abuse, and people throw away trash near squirrel homes. You decide that something must be done. You know you want to start an organization to eliminate this problem, but now you need a mission. Run through the questions above: 1. What is the problem? Squirrels are unappreciated and undervalued by the University community, contributing to the degradation of squirrel livelihood. 2. What is your vision? We envision a world in which squirrels are appreciated for all they offer to our diverse campus environment. 3. What is the group you want to focus your activities on? We will focus our activities on the students who fail to appreciate the majestic beauty of the squirrel. 4. What action will you take? We will design educational programs and marketing programs designed to improve student understanding of and appreciation for squirrels. Sample Mission: The squirrel today is threatened from all sides loggers, builders, and now, our student body. The University Squirrel Union seeks to design educational and marketing programs to improve student understanding of and appreciation for the majestic squirrel.

Conclusion: Your name and mission will be the first things that most people learn about you. You want them to embody what it is that you do, who you are, and how you see your impact in the world. Give yourself and your organization the time it needs to truly craft an accurate name and mission. You just might find that in the articulation process, you learn something new about who you are and what you truly want to do.

Nathaniel Whittemore is a founding director of the Northwestern University Center for Global Engagement, where he designs structured learning opportunities for young change agents to improve their impact in global problem solving. He spends altogether too much time thinking about marketing and perception, and his previous and current projects have had names including Just Nave Enough, OpenShutter Project, The Passenger Magazine, Refugee Connect, Beyond Bangalore and more. Through his myriad organizations, hes written enough totally crappy (and a few pretty dynamite) missions to know what hes talking about.