Question

Topic: Branding

Nonprofit Org Growing Broader, Need Umbrella Name

Posted by tellasiamin on 7/5/2016 at 6:53 PM ET 250 Points
We've functioned for 20 yrs as TellAsia Ministries building schools, children's homes, churches and other development in impoverished nations, especially northern India. Our success in helping the native people bring transformation to their local communities has resulted in our founder now becoming a sought-after speaker for conferences and churches seeking to increase their effectiveness. Therefore we now are finding that the "fundraising missionary agency" image conveyed by the brand "TellAsia" limits our broader vision, which is to teach, motivate and inspire people everywhere to influence and impact their local communities for good.

We therefore are preparing to create an umbrella agency which will include TellAsia but which will be braoder than it, providing us a global image as an organization which exists to serve other agencies seeking greater strategy and efficiency in their charitable work.

We would be deeply grateful for your advice regarding a name for the new agency. We have developed an extensive list of ideas but nothing is popping out at us. Also, as we are not very keen as to what will "sell" we seek your advice... Thank you!
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 7/6/2016 at 12:21 AM Member
    Are you wanting to build on your name (Tell The World) or go a different direction entirely?
    The name itself won't "sell" anything - it's what your agency (and founder) can do for those people wanting to donate or volunteer.
  • Posted by telemoxie on 7/6/2016 at 9:05 AM Accepted
    One possibility would be to start a new umbrella organization, which will require you to reach out to an entirely new target market (existing service related organizations). I suggest that you pursue the activities in reverse order. Since you need to reach out to existing organizations anyway, do that first. Contact 20 to 30 organization similar to your own. Ask them if they are members of any existing umbrella organizations. Ask them if they would see a benefit in such an organization, not from a sales point of view, but from a survey and questioning point of view. Instead of beginning by talking, begin by listening and asking. After all, "with an abundance of counselors is success".

    I am located in the United States, but I know a fellow from my church who has an existing missions program to India. He began offering a single program, and I believe he is beginning to branch out and look into other areas, as you are. Maybe he has similar concerns. Maybe have similar needs. If you send me an email (my email address is on my profile page, click my username) I will be happy to forward your information to my friend.
  • Posted by tellasiamin on 7/6/2016 at 1:01 PM Author
    thank you both for your responses. That's good advice to learn from what others are doing. A number of our peer agencies have a larger image which encompasses their founder's public speaking and teaching, books and publications etc with a charitable work abroad as part of that larger identity. Most of them only have one 501c3 (the broader brand) with the international charitable work as a project or division under it. So our main concern is how to expand the identity of the charitable work "TellAsia" to encompass/provide a platform for our founder's global teaching and speaking activities. The question seems to be do we rename TellAsia or do we create another separate 501...
  • Posted by mgoodman on 7/6/2016 at 2:40 PM Accepted
    You may be confusing the Positioning of the business segments with the legal entity(ies). Unless you need to separate the businesses for legal reasons, you can use the same 501c3 for both. I believe you can even have a distinct d/b/a (i.e. fictitious name) for one or more of the businesses under the 501c3.

    And the identity/positioning of the owner's global teaching and speaking activities can be a separate name -- say "Global Visions." Then on legal documents you can identify the new entity as "TellAsia Ministries, d/b/a Global Visions."

    Of course, you can create separate legal entities if there's a reason to, but it's not really a requirement, as far as I can tell.

    Note: I am not an attorney or a certified public accountant, and this should not be taken as legal or tax advice.
  • Posted by tellasiamin on 7/7/2016 at 8:28 AM Author
    Thank you, if it is possible to transition the existing brand into the larger identity without registering an entirely separate org that would be optimal. Our "brand" developed over 20 years is strategic, efficient training, equipping and mobilizing of everyday native people in developing nations to provide education and religious services to their own people. The result has been high efficiency, low cost and excellent outcomes. Our larger "brand" could be seen as simply doing this on a broader scale, inspiring and training people in all nations to go out and make a difference in their local communities. Any name ideas for us? That's really where we're stuck...
  • Posted by mgoodman on 7/7/2016 at 10:50 AM Moderator
    Why not "Global Visions?"

    Is there a reason to mimic the current name?
  • Posted by tellasiamin on 7/7/2016 at 11:49 AM Author
    We do not wish to mimic the current name, as we realize it is both limiting and difficult to pronounce. Global Visions is a possibility. Would like to find something more descriptive of our core mission which is "…to activate faith, catalyze creative action and reveal a pathway to your purpose... equipping you to live a life on mission." but it has to also include the social/humanitarian sense also to include the work we do in the developing nations.
  • Posted by mgoodman on 7/7/2016 at 12:00 PM Moderator
    Pathway to Purpose
    Life on a Mission

    I'd keep it simple. The more you try to say, the less you may actually communicate. It's just a name, not a full explanation of everything you'd like to do.
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