Shift Work Forward: Architecting a National Movement for the Future of Work

The Challenge: A Name That No Longer Matched the Mission

When the National Fund for Workforce Solutions launched its strategic plan, it needed to translate their new direction into alignment across a national network. The organization had spent more than a decade evolving from a funder collaborative into a national network of employers, funders, and regional workforce organizations working together to advance racial equity and create better jobs. But its name had not evolved with it.

Stakeholders consistently assumed the organization was primarily a grantmaker, a misperception reinforced by the word “Fund.” Within the field, it was often shortened to “National Fund,” a phrase that overlapped with unrelated organizations and created confusion. Most critically, “National” suggested a top-down structure that did not reflect how the organization actually worked. Rather than operating above its local and regional partners, the organization’s strength came from convening ecosystems, translating ideas into action, and elevating work and solutions already rooted in communities.

As partners began disengaging from convenings and working groups, leadership recognized that the brand was not simply outdated. It was actively working against the priorities laid out in the strategic plan. The organization needed a name and identity that could clarify its role, reconnect its network, and signal a more worker-centered, equity-driven future.

The Strategy: Turning Stakeholder Complexity into Shared Direction

Social Driver served as the connective tissue between the client’s strategic vision and its diverse stakeholders. We led a research-first process designed to move the organization beyond subjective preferences and toward a name grounded in evidence, positioning, and long-term strategic fit.

The engagement began with deep-dive stakeholder interviews and landscape mapping to understand how the organization was perceived, where confusion existed, and how the brand needed to shift to support its future goals. This research clarified the gap between the organization’s current name and its emerging role in the workforce field. It also surfaced the attributes a new name would need to carry: equity, action, movement, partnership, and practical change.

Rather than treating naming as a purely creative exercise, Social Driver developed a rigorous framework to evaluate 30 to 50 candidate names against example messaging, audience needs, strategic criteria, and market availability. This helped the team assess whether the names could support the organization’s mission, resonate with its network, and stand up in real-world communications.

The process culminated in a strategic workshop that aligned stakeholders around the core attributes, tone, positioning, and decision-making criteria needed to guide name selection. The workshop was built on extensive stakeholder input and helped to ensure that any new name would clearly reflect the organization’s mission, resonate with its audiences, and support its long-term vision for impact. Through this process, we identified three strong options for leadership and the board to consider.

The Execution: From Careful Alignment to a Launch-Ready Identity

Social Driver helped leadership move through a complex decision-making process with shared evidence in hand. We presented findings and recommendations in person to the Board of Directors, helping create the context and confidence needed to align around a new name.

Shift Work Forward emerged as the strongest choice. It built on an existing and meaningful focus on equity, connected to the organization’s upcoming Shift conference, and centered the word “work” rather than the more institutional “workforce.” It also eliminated the hierarchical implications of “National,” replacing them with a sense of collective movement, shared action, and forward momentum.

After helping leadership and the board work through the considerations behind the new name and reach alignment, Social Driver moved quickly to translate that decision into a complete visual identity, brand system, and modern digital website. The team developed the tools needed to bring the new identity to life, giving the organization a cohesive platform for launch, partner engagement, and continued communications.

The Impact: A Confident Rollout Grounded in Research

By the time the new name went public, leadership and the board had moved through every major decision with shared evidence and clear criteria. The rebrand process produced a strong strategic foundation: documented stakeholder perceptions, a competitive map showing where the organization wanted to move, and a name tested for meaning, fit, and availability before selection.

The new identity gave the organization a clearer way to express who it is and how it works. Shift Work Forward better reflected the convening role the network actually plays, the equity-centered mission behind its work, and the collective action needed to reshape workforce systems. It also helped re-engage partners through a name and identity that positioned them as part of a shared movement, not as participants in a hierarchy implied by the old name.

The result was more than a new name. It was a strategic reset that helped the organization move from confusion to clarity, from careful consideration to board alignment, and from an outdated brand to a future-facing identity built for long-term impact. Early response affirmed the strength of that shift: stakeholders saw Shift Work Forward as a clear expression of the organization’s ambition, a stronger point of alignment with partners, and a powerful platform for the next phase of impact. The new logo and visual system also drew enthusiastic praise, underscoring what was possible through the trust of National Fund staff, stakeholders, and leadership, and the clear direction, rigor, and partnership of the Social Driver team.