What’s in a name?

I bet this has happened to you.  You’re trying to introduce someone to another, and you can’t remember the person’s name…it’s right there on the tip your tongue, but you just can’t seem to retrieve it fast enough.  It’s embarrassing… to everyone.   Why? We all understand that a name is important; it has meaning, it defines a person, and knowing and remembering it is one of the key arts of communication.

The same holds true for an organization’s name. Its name reflects the unique mission, style, approach and unique niche that leads others to value its work, and its brand.  It should be memorable, easy to retrieve, and entice its target market to learn more.

For quite some time, we’ve known that the Trust for Conservation Innovation no longer fully represents who we have become since our inception nearly 20 years ago. And, so our evolution to Multiplier began.

The Wayback Machine

Back in 2001, our organization was the brainchild of a forward-looking team at California Environmental Associates who saw the need for a mission-aligned, cost-effective nonprofit organization for a select portfolio of environmental conservation projects. Since our beginnings, we have provided fiscal sponsorship, fast access to 501c3 status, and a flexible administrative and operations platform, freeing up program teams to focus on mission and impact from day one. We’ve built our reputation around a unique “boutique” level of creative and flexible support. To this day, every project still receives the close personal attention that has become our hallmark, together with a direct investment in building the capacity of program teams to accomplish their goals.

A Changing Sector
Fast forward 15 years, and the environmental sector has evolved. Land, ocean and species conservation are still key to protecting and conserving our precious natural resources. Yet there is also a realization that growing threats to our planet and its people require more holistic solutions, both locally and globally. Reflecting this trend, our project portfolio has grown and now spans both crucial land and ocean conservation efforts and an array of cross-sector strategies in public health, environmental education, economic development, clean energy, climate resilience, sustainable food systems, energy efficiency, social and environmental equity, and more. During this same period, we also experienced tremendous growth, with annual revenue across the entire organization more than tripling in just three years. By the end of 2015, our name no longer reflected the intersectional work of many of our projects or the evolution and growth of the overall organization.

Accelerating Impact
In 2016, we went through an intensive year-long planning process that culminated in a revised mission, a new strategic direction, and a resource-enriched approach that deepens our support for projects and our investment in mission-driven impact. Since that time, we’ve put this commitment into action. Our core operations support team – our “backbone” team – has continued to provide the efficient, cost-effective administrative and operations support that is core to our success. And, in 2017, we also added an accelerator team, doubling the size of our staff and bringing in additional senior nonprofit experts to expand our capacity-building support. This infusion of expertise has allowed us to deepen our personalized, wrap-around supports to projects in areas critical to their success, including fundraising, program and leadership development, and outreach.

Our public name change from Trust for Conservation Innovation to Multiplier in mid-2018 aligns our public-facing brand with this accelerator model.

Why Multiplier? Because that’s what we do. Our backbone and accelerator teams work alongside program teams, creating a multiplier effect that helps turn game-changing ideas into planet-saving impact.

Come join us. After all, don’t we all want to protect and foster a healthy, sustainable, resilient and equitable world?