The Largest Philanthropy Network Has a New Name: United Philanthropy Forum

Wednesday, July 19, 2017

The Largest Philanthropy Network Has a New Name: United Philanthropy Forum

By Dave Biemesderfer, President & CEO, United Philanthropy Forum.

This article was adapted from a public letter announcing the new name of the largest philanthropy network. 

For those of you who weren’t able to join us for the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers’ 2017 Annual Conference this year, I’m pleased to announce that we’ve just revealed our new name — United Philanthropy Forum — and a new visual identity to reflect a transformed organization.

We’ve changed our name and identity to more accurately reflect both the new organization that we’ve become today and the aspirations we share for a more united philanthropy field in the future. Our new identity reflects our network’s longtime spirit of generosity, inclusive nature, and passion for the common good.

For the past 18 years, the Forum has led a vibrant membership network of 33 regional philanthropy-serving organizations (PSOs) working to advance, inform and support philanthropy. Over the past two years the Forum engaged in a collaborative and iterative visioning process, in full partnership with our national philanthropy partner organizations, to crystallize the Forum’s role in the philanthropy field. As a result, the Forum has implemented a new vision to be the place where philanthropy’s infrastructure comes together, integrating regional PSOs' deep regional roots and connections with national PSOs' deep content knowledge and reach in a more comprehensive and strategic way.

As you all now, this past January the Forum opened its membership to national PSOs. In just the first six months under this new membership structure, the Forum has nearly doubled its membership, welcoming 27 new member organizations to its network. To date the Forum network is comprised of 60 regional and national PSOs representing more than 7,000 foundations and other philanthropic organizations—making us the largest network serving philanthropy in America. 

You can learn more about our new name and identity here:

www.unitedphilforum.org/newname

We encourage you to help us spread the word about our new name:

  • Share the News in Your Communications Channels: At the link above you can download a news release to use (modified as you see fit) to include in your newsletter and other communications with your members. At the same link you can download a file of our new logo.
  • Share the News Through Social Media: Also spread the word through your various communications channels, including social media. Our new twitter handle is @unitedphilforum. Here’s a few sample tweets:

    We’re proud to be a member of newly named United Philanthropy Forum, a network for the common good @unitedphilform http://bit.ly/2tnLk5r 

    Excited about the new United Philanthropy Forum, leading greater impact through a more united philanthropy field http://bit.ly/2tnLk5r 
     
  • Display the “Proud Member” graphic on your website: At the link above you can also download a “Proud Member” graphic to put on your website to show your pride in being a member of the United Philanthropy Forum.

A few practical considerations:

  • Our new website address is unitedphilforum.org. Please update our name and links to our site on your website
  • New emails for Forum staff will be (first name)@unitedphilforum.org. Please update your records.
  • For right now you can continue to use the same emails for the Forum’s listservs. We’ll send you more information about changes to our listserv emails shortly after the Forum conference.

We’re so excited about our new name and look and even more excited about the new kind of philanthropic network that we’re creating, where we are working together better and smarter to advance, inform and support philanthropy. Thank you for being a part of United Philanthropy Forum.

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