capitalization: institutions

In capitalizing the official names of institutions, follow the guidelines below. Note that the official capitalization is that used by the institution itself.

On this page

• Official names of institutions
  • Religious institutions
  • Educational institutions
  • Courts of law
  • Clubs
  • Corporations
  • Political parties
  • Associations
• Administrative subdivisions
• Plurals
• Short forms
• Corporate writing
• Second references

Official names of institutions

Capitalize the official names of institutions.

Religious institutions

Capitalize the official names of organized churches, religious denominations, sects, orders and their adherents:

• the First Baptist Church
• the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada
• the Salvation Army
• Buddhism
• the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits
• a meeting of Christians, Jews, Muslims and Baha’is

Educational institutions

Capitalize the official names of educational institutions and school boards:

• the University of Manitoba
• Lisgar Collegiate Institute
• the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board

Courts of law

Capitalize the official names of courts of law:

• the International Court of Justice
• the Supreme Court of Canada
• the Quebec Superior Court

Clubs

Capitalize the official names of clubs:

• the Rotary Club
• the Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada
• the Loyal Order of Moose
• the Shriners

Corporations

Capitalize the official names of corporations:

• Canadian Airlines International
• the Canadian National Railway Company

Political parties

Capitalize the official names of political parties:

• the New Democratic Party
• the Liberal Party of Canada
• the Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick
• the Opposition (official)

Associations

Capitalize the official names of unions, alliances, associations, etc.:

• the Ontario Public Service Employees Union
• the Public Service Alliance of Canada
• the Canadian Medical Association

Administrative subdivisions

The names of administrative subdivisions of these institutions are also capitalized:

• the Department of Political Science
• the Toronto Synod

Plurals

Do not capitalize the plural of common nouns, even when the full titles of the bodies concerned are given:

• He held degrees from the universities of Saskatchewan and Toronto.
• Candidates for the Liberal and Progressive Conservative parties attended the rally.

Short forms

Do not capitalize generic short forms used in a non-specific sense; preceded by a possessive, demonstrative or other type of adjective; or used adjectivally or in an adjectival form:

• Our family attended a Baptist church regularly.
• Every board of education in the province has adjourned for the season.
• This university is our town’s major employer.
• She tries to attend all board meetings.
• Only strict adherence to the party line was tolerated.

But if the short form refers to a specific, unique institution, it retains the upper case when used as a noun or adjectivally:

• The Scouts held a rally over the weekend.
• A city-wide Red Cross blood drive replenished the hospital’s supply.

In addition, capitalize short forms that use only the specifying element:

• This afternoon, Concordia and Western will play in the final.

Corporate writing

A generic noun used as a short form of a title is often capitalized, especially in corporate writing intended for an internal readership:

• the Institute
• the Board
• the Party
• He worked for the Company for almost forty years.
• The document was forwarded to the Regional Office.

Second references

In second and subsequent references, short forms may be treated generically and lower cased:

• He was invited to address the Second Annual Conference on Biotechnology but declined because the conference was not sufficiently broad in scope.
• She applied for a grant under the External Scholars Program, but only graduate students were eligible under the program.