Jewish Charities Rebrand For Clarity

United Jewish Communities (UJC) has rebranded itself The Jewish Federations of North America. Kind of.

As the organization representing nearly 160 local Jewish Federations and 400 independent network communities across the continent, the UJC (or, now, JFNA) says it undertook the rebrand to "create a stronger continental brand and market positioning for the Federation system..." and "to align with and reflect the Jewish Federations’ naming." The rebrand includes a new logo.

JFNA president and CEO Jerry Silverman said of the change:

Our new name makes a clear and bold statement that we embody the Jewish Federation system. Further, this change enables us to work with our partners to create stronger positioning of the Jewish Federations for the future.

The hope is that the organizations under the organizations umbrella will adopt the new logo and brand name to combat the current state of "alphabet soup of Jewish philanthropy." The UJC was a rebrand itself, known as the United Jewish Appeal or UJA until 1999, when it merged with the Council of Jewish Federations and United Israel Appeal.

The new name was chosen to align with the names used by most local federation chapters. But some, such as Combined Jewish Philanthropies (Boston), The Associated (Baltimore) and New York's UJA, have strong local name recognition and probably won't be willing to fully adopt the new brand, which is voluntary.

So while the rebrand may make the federation of lesser-known Jewish organizations stronger, does it risk just muddying the waters further if not all chapters choose to adopt it?