NCNA changes name to National Council of Nonprofits

Change ... and Continuity -- on Nov. 5, Tim Delaney, president and CEO of HANO's national affiliate, announced that the National Council of Nonprofit Associations, NCNA, has changed its name, becoming the National Council of Nonprofits, NCN. Here's Delaney's message to our national network and state association nonprofit members:

Historians will write about how 2008 was a year of change. From the presidential primaries in which people rejected the likeliest candidates (and ultimately elected an African American from the younger generation) to the economic chaos that led to the unthinkable $700 billion bailout of Wall Street, change has filled the air. 

Another change took place earlier this year, one neither as revolutionary nor as tumultuous as those above. NCNA’s Board voted to change the organization’s name from the National Council of Nonprofit Associations to the National Council of Nonprofits – a decision the membership then ratified overwhelmingly.

With the election results now freshly released, it seems a fitting time to informally unveil the new look resulting from our name change. Unlike a business behemoth, we don’t have a multi-million dollar marketing budget, so we won’t be flipping a sparkly switch to pronounce that as of noon today everything will magically change. Instead, we will methodically -- and responsibly -- order new stationery and supplies as we need them, and insert the new name in our electronic communications as we also shift to the new technology platform. 

Our general goal is to get everything outfitted with one standard look by the start of the New Year. But our specific priority remains to provide quality service to our members and leadership for our sector.

Our "soft shift" rather than "jarring jolt" to the new name is eased by the balanced approach we are taking. As you see, our tagline remains the same.  After all, when it is on target, why mess with it?  Likewise, our weave mark – showing the nonprofit sector firmly beside the business and government sectors and interacting at the local, state, and national levels – accurately represents our essence.  So at some level, the only visible change is the deletion of a single word from our name. But as you know, the change is much bigger than that.

In 1989 a handful of visionary leaders of state associations decided to create a safe place to exchange ideas. Over time, their small group evolved into a vibrant and continuously expanding network. With more than 24,000 nonprofits system-wide, and with our new dues structure in which "your" members are also "our" affiliate members and members in one state now become linked to members in another state, we needed a new, more descriptive name.

Our new name – the National Council of Nonprofits – more accurately describes the dynamic network that links nonprofits throughout the nation. The National Council facilitates our collective network by sharing vital information, exchanging practical knowledge, mobilizing mutual support, and leveraging collective power – all to achieve greater impact in communities across America.

While we have changed our name and we all, system-across our network, need to change the way we think of ourselves -- not as isolated state associations and a D.C. office all separately incorporated, but as interlocked and interwoven nodes in an intricately interlaced network that can spread and gather information, ideas and even power quickly -- many core elements of our network will continue. In the network’s node here in the nation’s capital, we will continue (and even enhance) our view that our work must be designed to help support the invaluable work that the state associations do to make our collective members stronger so the communities we all serve may be stronger and healthier. And the state associations continue to hold the majority of seats on the governing board to provide guidance. Change and continuity. Together, we can.

Thanks to a believer in our network who provided a micro-grant to announce the name change, we will be sending out "official" announcements soon. And we will supply you with the new logo to insert in your websites and letterheads. But we wanted to let you know today, before things start rolling out, that when you said you wanted to update our name to better reflect our dynamic network, we listened.  Thanks for believing in the power of unity.