By Monica W. Wamsley
I’m sure that if you asked your parents you’d learn the details of your name — something meaningful, maybe evoking a family memory; something distinct, but not so cumbersome that your given name doesn’t stick; something that grows with you.
The same kind of care and thought that goes into naming a child is used in naming a nonprofit organization and getting it off the ground.
“It’s not rocket science.” Well, this time, it is.
Higher Orbits (@HigherOrbits) is the brainchild of Michelle Ham (@spacechelle), former Mission Control and astronaut instructor.
“My nonprofit’s mission is to promote science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) subjects along with leadership through the use of space flight. Mankind’s journey into space serves as an ideal launchpad to excite students of all ages about STEM, leadership, and working to fulfill their dreams and ambitions,” says Ham.
Over the course of a few days in July (including brainstorming with Ham, white papers from Dr. Witzig, and feedback from her Millennial associates), Higher Orbits emerged with its meaningful, distinctive, positive, future-oriented name.
Ideen associates were particularly big on the name’s combination of higher education and space, its conveyance of the mission, and its gravitational pull, as it were — but the name had to appeal to the target audience and their parents, too.
But lest I lead you to believe Ideen had to just come up with something catchy, consider this: There can be several Michaels on your street, but that’s not so with nonprofits. Is the name available? Are there trademark issues? Is the domain name taken? Are there organizations with similar names? Are there organizations with similar missions? How do we condense the mission statement and make it a great tagline?
Bookmark higherorbits.org and follow Ham on Twitter to watch this rising star.
