Summary

Tremendous confusion exists in nonprofit management circles about the meaning and function of a mission statement. Some experts define mission as a statement of the organization`s purpose. Others define it as the reason for the organization`s existence. A third group defines the mission as providing an overview of an organization`s plans and programs. These definitions unfortunately give little guidance on what goes into a mission statement, or how it relates to the vision statement.

The Background

Let`s see how drafting a mission statement might work in practice. Within six months of becoming the executive director at Education Unlimited (a nonprofit that provides mentoring opportunities to low-income children), David Owings found himself guiding the organization through strategic planning.

The Solution

At the strategic planning retreat, the organization arrived at the folowing vision statement: "Education Unlimited envisions a world where all students receive guidance, encouragement and support to reach their full potential in life." The participants then focused on the mission and came up with the following: "We achieve our mission by inspiring young people to follow in the steps of leaders of their communities."

Lessons Learned

This example illustrates how a mission statement flows directly from the vision. In other words, once the destination is clear (vision), then the organization need only decide on what approach it will use to reach that destination (mission). It would make no sense to figure out the approach before the destination is known. Yet, this is what many organizations do when they start creating the mission before the vision.