We have exciting news from the Digital Democracy team. In time for our 15th anniversary as an organization, we are in the process of rebranding and choosing a new name. While the name Digital Democracy has served us well, for a long time it hasn’t been the perfect fit, nor does it reflect our core work and commitments. At a time of accelerating climate change, our focus is collaboratively working with frontline communities to protect their cultures, ecosystems, and our collective future. Last year, during a retreat with staff, board members and close partners where we were setting our bigger picture strategic direction as an organization, we decided it’s time to change our name, and we embarked on a process to do so.

Working with our team and partners, we went through a process of deciding our criteria for a new name, generating new ideas through brainstorming sessions, and getting feedback on those ideas through participatory voting. In the end we came up with an exciting shortlist, and we are in the process of finalizing the details before we announce our new name to the world next month.

What criteria did we use to determine our shortlist?

• Easily Pronounceable - Digital Democracy is hard to pronounce for non-English speakers, and often gets translated into local languages. We want the core part of our new name to be easily pronounced by our partners around the world.
• Resonant of our values and vision
• Articulates the tone and texture of our work
• Can be inspired from areas we work in - many of our ideas were inspired by the practices and languages of areas where we work
• Excites our team and partners alike
• Available as an organization name and URL

We’re grateful for our team, board and partners who contributed to this process. We are excited to share the new name soon!

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