Answer extracted from the Masters of Scale podcast — listen to the full episode below.
How does a humanitarian organization rebrand its identity to better reflect evolved mission scope beyond traditional emergency relief?
Organizations outgrow their founding identities just as people do. Prosper Global's rebrand from Mercy Corps reflects a shift from emergency intervention to long-term sustainability—moving beyond traditional aid into cash assistance, seed insurance, blockchain for identity management, and venture capital investments that the old name simply did not encompass.
The name no longer fit the work
When an organization operates in over 30 countries across six continents and has evolved its mission over decades, the identity it carries must eventually catch up. Mercy Corps was built for emergency response—a name that made sense when the organization's primary work was crisis intervention. But as Jada McKenna explains in the episode, the organization had already spent ten years running a venture capital fund, designing insurance products for smallholder farmers, and building identity infrastructure using blockchain technology—all work that demanded a different narrative.
The rebrand signals permission for staff, donors, and communities to think differently about what humanitarian organizations can do. It removes the implicit constraint that aid must mean short-term survival assistance. Instead, it names a commitment to building prosperity—not just preventing collapse.
A message of hope in fragmented circumstances
Rebranding during a period of unprecedented funding pressure—including cutbacks from major government donors—requires conviction. The rebrand also carries a message: resilience and thriving are possible even in the hardest contexts. When McKenna visits communities in Syria, Nepal, Sudan, and Ukraine, she sees people doing extraordinary things under extraordinary constraint. The new name reflects what she actually witnesses on the ground, rather than what external observers expect.
This shift in naming is also a shift in how humanitarian work gets framed globally. A detailed discussion of the philosophy behind this rebranding appears throughout the podcast conversation.
"We cannot settle for survival. We can't respond to choosing between today's crises and helping communities prepare for tomorrow."
Jada McKenna — CEO of Prosper Global, a humanitarian organization operating in over 30 countries on six continents. McKenna leads the organization's evolution from emergency-focused aid delivery toward long-term prosperity infrastructure, including investments in blockchain identity systems, seed insurance, and venture capital. She has recently guided the rebrand from Mercy Corps to Prosper Global as the organization enters its next phase of impact.
The quote also captures something structural: modern crises are not discrete events. Climate floods in Nepal are recurrent, not one-time shocks. Syrian communities returning to Aleppo and Idlib need reconstruction, not just emergency food. This reality demands an organizational identity that speaks to both preparation and response.
See also
What are the immediate and long-term humanitarian priorities when responding to catastrophic flooding in vulnerable regions prone to climate disasters?
In Nepal, the immediate response involves providing food, hygiene kits, and shelter. However, longer-term work focuses on helping communities build resilience against recurrent climate crises.
What skill differentiates intelligent response from mere speed in leadership during times of disruption?
Leaders must develop anticipatory awareness, temporal awareness, and situational awareness—the ability to read what they cannot see and respond with both speed and wisdom.
How does systems thinking and permeable boundaries relate to organizational resilience and AI investment success?
A healthy system requires permeable boundaries where good data and feedback can flow freely. When boundaries close and feedback is not brought in, organizations lose their capacity to adapt and thrive.