Women's Animal Center: Our New Name. Our Renewed Commitment.

Last fall, as the board and staff of the Women’s Humane Society began to look ahead to the celebration of our 150th anniversary as America's First Animal Shelter in 2019. We distributed a survey to our partners and stakeholders to obtain your guidance on how we can better serve your needs and fulfill our mission as we enter a new era in our long and storied history.

After receiving this survey, so many of you took the time to provide us thoughtful insights into our organization’s work, impact and unique role in the animal welfare community, for which we remain truly grateful. One of your most commonly submitted responses underscored a quandary that the Women’s Humane Society has been grappling with for years: The historical import and pride we take in our organization’s name, yet the confusion it can so often cause for the public.

The Women’s Humane Society dates back to 1869, when thirty pioneering women joined forces to establish the First Animal Shelter in America. Although our legal name stands as the Women’s Humane Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, its frequent abbreviation to Women’s Humane Society often leads to confusion for existing and potential audiences alike.

Feedback from your surveys reflected decades of our own experiences in attempting to clearly and concisely communicate who we are to the public. It confirmed for us that the modifier Women’s, when used in conjunction with the term Humane Society, leads many people to assume that we are a social service organization assisting women in crisis – a noble cause, but not one for which we were founded.

Above and beyond the confusion it causes, the term humane society falls short of conveying the breadth of services we provide and extent of work we undertake. Like other humane societies, Women’s is an advocacy organization, campaigning for stricter animal welfare laws, and collaborating with institutions of learning, corporate citizens and rescue partners to build a more compassionate world through the foundation of humane education. Unlike most other humane societies, however, Women’s carries out the boots-on-the-ground work that makes a tangible difference in the lives of the people and pets living throughout our greater region – directly assisting thousands of families, volunteers, humane law officers and homeless animals each year – through action, as well as advocacy.

All that we do each day, every day is about making life better for animals – and the people who love them. Our name must reflect and convey that fact. With the guidance of your feedback and the support of an awarded team of branding professionals, the board and staff of the Women’s Humane Society embarked upon a thoughtful, strategic process to better position our organization as we prepare to commemorate the milestone of our 150th anniversary.  An integral part of this process has involved the recognition, evaluation and resolution of identity issues surrounding our name.

As of October 1, 2018, Women's Humane Society will begin to conduct business under our new name, Women's Animal Center.

In doing so, we endeavor to achieve a number of goals important to our community:

•    The name Women’s Animal Center will continue to honor the important role of women in the founding, history and evolution of our organization, and of animal welfare at large in our great country.
•    The name Women’s Animal Center will avoid the confusion caused by our current name by making it immediately clear that helping animals is our purpose and our priority.
•    The name Women’s Animal Center will establish us not simply as a shelter or veterinary hospital, but as a Center that comprises a broad spectrum of services and expertise, and that conveys a sense of unity and shared love of animals within and among our local and national communities.

We will continue to operate under the legal name of Women’s Humane Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. This name is and will remain a significant part of our storied past, after all.

At the same time, the Women’s Animal Center understands that what is most important is our relevance today – a relevance not measured by a name, but by and through our lifesaving work. With our new name, and with our milestone anniversary, come our renewed promise and commitment to animals – and the people who love them – now and for generations yet to come.