Abstract
This study examines the effects of community-oriented names on the amount of donations received by U.S. community foundations. Drawing upon the symbolic management perspective, this study focuses on the word ‘community’ as a symbol that carries isomorphic symbolic value which derives from the desirable contextual meaning ascribed to the symbol. The longitudinal analysis of panel data of U.S. community foundations for a 22-year period (1989-2010) finds that the presence of the word ‘community’ in an organizational name led to more donations over time. This study identifies two other community-related name attributes that increased the symbolic value of the foundation’s name: presence of specific geographic label and absence of business-related label. The analysis finds that a specific geographic label in a foundation’s name had a positive influence on donations received by the foundation whereas a business-related label had an opposite influence. This study also reveals that community wealth and the number of community foundations in the same community are significant moderators of the relationships between the three name attributes and donations.
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