YMCA of USA drops ‘MCA’ to become ‘the Y’
Posted by | Posted in Business News | Posted on 12-07-2010
WASHINGTON, July 12 (UPI) — The YMCA of the USA dropped “MCA” from its name Monday, making the iconic Chicago-based, non-profit organization simply “the Y,” the organization said.
The change, officially adopting the nickname people have used for generations, is part of a new brand strategy that followed two years of research and analysis, the organization said at the National Press Club.
Along with the name change is a “new, more forward-looking logo that reflects the vibrancy and diversity of the organization,” the Y said in a statement.
The logo is the Y’s seventh since the organization’s 1844 founding in London as the Young Men’s Christian Association.
The group’s goal at the time was to put Christian principles into practice by developing “a healthy spirit, mind, and body.” Y centers today are open to all people, regardless of religion, age or sex.
The national U.S. office is already changing to the new name and logo, the office said. Local Y centers across the country will make the switch within five years.
The adoption of the new name and logo also coincide with the Y’s efforts to emphasize “youth development, healthy living and social responsibility,” the Y said.
The new name and logo apply only to U.S. centers, but the organization would “give the logo,” free of charge, to YMCA organizations in other countries if they want to use it, Neil Nicoll, president of the U.S. organization, told United Press International.
Sharing like that is “part of our tradition,” he said.
U.S. Y executives plan to discuss their new name, logo and strategy at an international YMCA conference in Hong Kong next week, Kate Coleman, senior vice president and chief marketing officer, told UPI.
The Y is a federated organization made up of local and national organizations in voluntary association. The U.S. organization is part of a worldwide movement of more than 45 million members from 124 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs, based in Geneva, Switzerland.
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