So you want to name a campaign?
Picking a name for a fundraising campaign can feel a little like naming your child…if the child had millions of dollars riding on their success and there were 30 other co-parents in the room.
Understandably, that’s a lot of pressure.
But, at Parisleaf, we believe that the strongest campaign names are born in collaborative, creative environments where there are no bad ideas in the brainstorming process. When you think about these words pervading every donor story, every fundraising conversation, and every print and digital material, it’s easy to get creative block.
That’s why we’ve created this Checklist to ground creatives and strategists alike in the fundamentals of naming—and to get you past that initial decision paralysis before it takes root.
1. Does it portray the change made possible?
Before hitting the whiteboards with your team’s ideas, start with your ambition: How will this campaign improve lives or change the world? Now’s the time to go big, so make a mind map with all the potential answers to this question:
- Patients could be receiving better care close to home;
- Students could graduate already equipped to stand out in the workforce;
- Parkinson’s disease could be on its way to a cure;
- And more families could have access to permanent, stable housing.
Whatever the answer is, your campaign name should point toward a future not yet attained, but within reach.
Tip: It can be easy to get caught up in the “what” of it all, but be sure to describe the “why” as well.
2. Does it sound like you?
Your campaign name needs to be uniquely, distinctly you. We offer a collaborative exercise and small group session at onsite Messaging Workshops to determine a campaign’s voice and tone, but if your brand is struggling to find its personality, organizations like Mission Met and many others offer resources to start the conversation. Once that is established…
Ask your team the following:
- What is our remarkability factor?
- What words, phrases, examples, or stories routinely arise in our day-to-day communications?
- What is the promise we make to our supporters?
- How do we describe and define ourselves in the broader industry?
Tip: The goal is for your campaign name to amplify your voice in the sector and support your existing identity, so it’s crucial to explore your distinct contributions in the field and determine your remarkability factor before moving forward. Parisleaf has a free e-book available for download that serves as a short, practical guide to help you figure out what makes your campaign special.
3. Did you collect language before the brainstorm?
Think of yourself as a creative crow: you are a collector of ideas, phrases, and words for the foreseeable future.
Listening is crucial in this process, so—as you engage in stakeholder interviews, speak with major donors, and sit in on internal conversations—keep a running list of memorable language, like poignant metaphors, similes, personifications, epistrophes, and comparisons.
That raw material often resurfaces powerful ideas and acts as fodder for future brainstorming. Even if those exact phrases aren’t represented in your final decision, using them as alternative options or as the basis for your ideas helps your partners, clients, and stakeholders feel seen and heard along the way.
Tip: Relationship-building is a huge part of establishing trust, so this step is an incredibly valuable opportunity to build equity. The Center for Effective Philanthropy provides more detail on building relationships with donors, and we encourage you to review their resources.
4. Is it specific and meaningful?
It’s a universal law of fundraising that, if you appeal to everyone, you appeal to no one.
Your name needs to be unique to your institution, and that means shooting for alignment—not agreement—with your stakeholders. It doesn’t have to be everyone’s favorite to be the best choice; it just needs to accurately represent where the organization is headed and what’s remarkable about it. Don’t zoom out so far that the name no longer holds significance. Your core audience is typically major donors, so weigh their needs and motivators most heavily.
Tip: The more specific you are, the easier it will be for supporters to see themselves reflected and to trigger recall when they’re talking about the campaign with others. To learn more about the importance of alignment vs. agreement, download our free Campaign Storytelling e-book here.
5. Can it support multiple forms of storytelling?
Your name is the North Star for every story you tell, and the best campaign storytelling strikes a balance between reliable consistency and exciting variations. For a real campaign example and further explanation, read our Vice President of Creative’s summary here.
The campaign name provides an anchor in consistency, while the individual stories offer waves of variation. This formula is why we often pressure test names by building a messaging hierarchy before recommending them. Below is a series of litmus tests to help:
Can the name support messaging for…
- The campaign priorities?
- Regional initiatives?
- Every strategic pillar or throughline?
- Major donor conversations?
- Different forms of campaign storytelling?
Tip: If the name only works in one or two contexts, it’s probably not the one.
6. Does it invite the audience into something bigger?
The most successful campaign names act as an RSVP to a movement, so your supporters should feel like they’re participating in something larger than themselves—not simply watching your organization operate on its own. Donald Miller created a storytelling framework expounding on this invitational model that has made over $400 million in revenue for companies implementing it. We recommend exploring this strategy in detail the further you get in your campaign’s formation.
- With that in mind, does your name…
- Create momentum and inertia?
- Inspire ownership and partnership?
- Sound like a movement rather than a slogan?
Tip: People don’t invest in institutions as much as they invest in futures they want to create, so paint them a thorough, detailed picture of that future.
7. Does it sound natural when said aloud?
Campaign names will be spoken just as much as they are written, if not more: in board meetings, campaign launches, prospective donor conversations, interviews, anthem videos, and so much more.
As such, you need to say every option out loud, thinking about the flow, cadence, and memorability as you go. This will help simplify the options, as you want a final list that feels easy to share in all kinds of circumstances.
Tip: As a guideline, we favor names between one and four words, written in title case, and free from unnecessary punctuation whenever possible.
8. Did you mock it up before getting attached?
Before narrowing your shortlist down, place each name into actual campaign materials and drafts: beside the institution’s logo, in a website header, on social media, inside a presentation deck, on billboards, in email signatures, etc.
What do you notice?
The key here is visualization. The campaign name needs to feel natural and organic to the organization’s visual identity. If it looks awkward or out of place, you have your answer.
Tip: Testing these lockups early in the process can help you eliminate options that won’t hold up once you start drafting use cases—the earlier, the better. A seasoned design studio, IDEO, has created a design kit and guide to help ensure that people remain the center of your nonprofit’s branding. We encourage exploring their resources if your visual storytelling is struggling to remain on task in a campaign.
9. Did you test for flexibility?
A helpful exercise in the naming process is developing primary, secondary, and tertiary messaging for each of your top options: drafting strategic hooks, headlines, email subject lines, and campaign themes. We’ve found hooks and headlines to be particularly helpful in the quiet phase: functioning as credible conversation starters that connect belief to action and helping each audience clearly define their roles. Meanwhile, in the public phase, they evolve into highly digestible, energizing, and emotionally resonant messaging devices that unify the campaign narrative across all channels and participation levels.
Once that stress test is complete, messaging should help…
- Major donors understand why their contributions matter.
- Board members feel equipped to champion the campaign with confidence.
- Internal Audiences feel connected to a shared purpose.
- The General Public resonate with the storytelling and feel invited to participate.
Tip: If a name struggles to support the entirety of the evolution above, it’s probably not sturdy enough.
10. Did you learn from the past?
Every institution has a history that your name should take into consideration. Asking the hard questions now can save an abundance of time later:
- Is there equity to build on from the previous campaign?
- Is there a misconception we have the opportunity to correct?
- Is there a part of our story we’ve never fully told or told well?
- Is this the moment to transition into a new voice or tone?
Tip: Taking an internal, anonymous poll can help achieve candor with these answers.
11. Are your ideas organized into strategic directions?
When you have hundreds of naming possibilities, sorting them into themes can significantly help with the overwhelm. For example,
- Growth and Momentum: inertia, optimism, ambition, and potential.
- Belief and Purpose: conviction, values, calling, and mission.
- Action and Impact: measurable change, outcomes, and transformation.
- Identity and Culture: belonging, character, and distinction.
Putting your naming directions into buckets like these helps you be more strategic. Instead of debating individual options with the team, you can start with the big picture, asking what kind of story your campaign name should tell. To assist with team discussions and decision-making when it comes to naming, reference our free Ten Lenses for Campaign Naming resource for applicable prompts and worksheets.
Tip: Regular check-ins with your client’s leadership team or your internal creative team can help to identify where excitement and energy naturally exist (and where they don’t).
12. Did you research trademarking and general use?
There’s nothing worse than getting to the end of the naming process and discovering an existing trademark or public use issue with your campaign name. Be sure to conduct some market research, so you don’t have to go back to the drawing board—paying special attention to:
- Prior fundraising campaign use
- Existing brands and organizations
- Trademark status
- Potential conflicts in general use
- Brand differentiation
- Proximity in time or sector
If you already know trademark protection needs to be secured, hire a qualified trademark attorney before making any final decisions. They can advise on eligibility and any potential conflicts specific to your situation.
Tip: At Parisleaf, we complete a Name Market Research report before offering any final recommendations, allowing us to compare creative instincts with practical realities and giving our partners confidence that the options they’re considering are sturdy and viable from the beginning.
13. Have you honed in on major donors’ motivations?
Supporters who make transformational gifts deserve transformational thinking. Keeping your primary audience in focus helps prevent well-intentioned compromise from diluting a name’s power and resonance.
When you’re thinking about your supporters’ motives, it’s worth taking the time to consider if this campaign name also needs to help with organizational awareness: that distinction makes a huge difference.
Tip: Great campaign names are earned through careful listening, honest conversations, strategic testing, thoughtful refinement, and a willingness to ask better questions.
While your final name may only be two or three words, the process to arriving at that name should involve dozens of conversations, observations, and rounds of editing. This checklist provides you with a practical list of questions to ask in the naming process, but if you’re ready to dive deeper, check out our introduction to Crafting a Memorable Campaign Name to see how this step fits into a larger campaign strategy.
Whether you’re naming your first campaign or your fiftieth, remember: the right name gives people a story worth joining.
