The title of a project is of ultimate
importance, thus make sure to take your time to find the best one. Titles must
be attractive and exciting at the same time. The title must convey the meaning,
the area of intervention and the goals of the project while being enticing.
It is good practice to select the final title
together with all the other members of the NGO. Whereas the project proposal is
very technical and requires specific skills that not everybody may possess, the
title represents everybody’s efforts, expectations, and aspirations.
Accordingly, all the members should be asked to participate in the process of
selecting the title to make sure that they all feel excited by the idea of
working towards its development.
Firstly, write down on paper five key words,
which summarise your project. For instance if your project will organise a
communal meal in a certain neighbourhood known for its lack of social cohesion,
in order to improve relationships among those living there, write: food,
dinner-party, neighbourhood, community, and social cohesion. Gather all the
members of your NGO for a collective brainstorming session. Write down the five
words you selected on a board and ask the group at large to work with those
words and suggest possible titles. It is important that you set your goal for
the meeting as that of coming up with the best three title-proposals within a
couple of hours. Make sure to prepare coffees and cakes for your collaborators
(it is not proven that sugar helps creativity, but it will create a more
relaxed atmosphere). Set aside an hour to produce a long list of titles and
another hour to shortlist the best three. Keep the meeting within the 2 hours
proposed to maintain concentration among the group. You could decide whether to
work within smaller groups or with one big group according to the size of the
NGO and group dynamics. At the end of the meeting you should have your three
short listed titles. At this point, you should organise a focus group with a
group of five to ten friends. Present in brief the project to the focus group
and write the three final project titles on a board. Ask to the participants to
choose one and to explain why they selected it. Take notes during the
discussion. By the end of the focus group you should have all the information
you need to make your final choice. Read through the notes you have taken and
assess the information you have gathered. Write for each of the titles their
strengths and weaknesses. Compare your results and take your final decision.
Make sure to circulate the final title among all the members of your NGO who
participated in the process to communicate the final decision.
In brief, the best title will: 1) give a
general idea of what the project is about 2) make you curious about the project
and prompt you to read more and to participate in it 3) not be descriptive, but
allusive 4) catch people’s attention because of a play of words or a reference
to movies, books, popular culture etc. 5) be simple and straightforward (avoid
overcomplicated titles) 6) be memorable.
Source: fundsforngos