The YMCA has joined a growing list of the nation’s largest nonprofits that are reinventing themselves with a new brand and logo. The organization, headquartered in Chicago, Ill., will call itself “The Y,” what it’s commonly referred to as, and the national office has started the change, to which all of its 2,680 local affiliates should transition within five years.
More than two years of analysis and research went into the new brand strategy, the first for The Y since 1967 and the sixth since the organization was established in 1844. The rebranding effort grew out of the organization’s 2007 strategic plan, starting in earnest two years ago with analysis and research. “There was general consensus among Y’s across the country that we don’t get the kind of recognition we deserve for the work and impact that we make,” said Kate Coleman, senior vice president, chief marketing officer for YMCA of the USA. “In response to that we decided to take a hard look at our brand. That’s how all of this work evolved out of that hard work,” she said.
The Y describes its new logo, unveiled July 12, 2010 at The National Press Club in Washington, D.C., as “more forward-looking” and one that “reflects the vibrancy and diversity of the organization, and a framework that focuses resources on three core areas: youth development, healthy living and social responsibility.”
Read the full story from The Nonprofit Times
Check out the history of the Y and its logos here