Q: What’s in a name?
One of the most common mistakes a board makes when creating a nonprofit organization is making a poor choice for their organization name. When you setup your nonprofit organization, you can choose to name the organization after yourself, or your city/town, or some “cute” name that might seem hip at the moment.
But if you want to make a lasting impact, it’s important to choose a name that reflects your organization and its purposes.
So for example, if your organization will be providing out-of-school-time computer training for at-risk youth in Missouri, which name do you think would be best: Missouri Computer Foundation or Kidz and Computers?
Which name immediately represents what you do and to whom, to readers? Most likely you picked Kidz and Computers, and you’d be right.
Additionally, a “foundation” is normally an organization that grants funds to nonprofit organizations, so you should really stay away from using “Foundation” in your name.
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