Defining purpose: nonprofit growth starts with a mission statement

A nonprofit’s effectiveness hinges on a clear and concise mission statement. A well-defined mission statement serves as the foundation for an organization’s programs, operations, culture and longevity.

Your nonprofit’s mission statement is a declaration of why it exists and who, what and where it serves. It is a direct way to describe your organization’s fundamental purpose. Here are tips to create a strong mission statement and use it to build your nonprofit’s organizational performance.

Discover Your “Why”

A good mission statement is memorable, easily defines the direction of your organization, and attracts others to your cause. How do you create one of your own?

Think about “the why” behind your organization. Why was the organization formed? Consider your answers to these questions:

• Who is the community the organization is helping?
• What key values does the organization share in the community?
• What void is this organization filling in the community?
• What is a story you can share that expresses the work the organization does?

Your mission statement should be concise and offer clear direction. It’s your elevator pitch. Try it out and seek feedback from your board of directors, staff, volunteers and selected community members.

While many public charities create a mission statement when the organization is formed, it is a good idea to review your mission every few years to ensure it remains relevant. Go back to “the why,” and have your board acknowledge whether your mission statement remains consistent with the work and vice versa.

Let Your Mission Guide You

Once your mission statement is finalized, it becomes the guide for all your organizational operations. Operations include everything from programs and partnerships to fundraising, marketing, leadership and strategic planning. Here are ways operational areas can continuously support your mission:

• Board Governance and Leadership

Your board and leadership team should make business decisions that align with the organization's goals, purpose and values. Awareness of the mission brings leadership together around a responsibility to put the health and well-being of the nonprofit ahead of their own bias, preferences and feelings. As part of board onboarding, explain the mission of the organization, why and how it came to be and discuss the various ways your nonprofit carries out its mission on a daily and long-term basis.

• Fundraising

A mission statement helps to communicate your organization's purpose and impact to donors, potential funders and volunteers. It is meant to be part of the storytelling that inspires people to contribute to the charity’s cause. Before people support a cause, they often want to connect with it. A mission statement sets the stage for this conversation.

To meet that purpose, your fundraising strategy should align with your mission statement. For example, if the mission of the organization is to provide education to under-resourced children, the fundraising strategy should have an element of education-related initiatives. This helps to reinforce the mission in the minds of potential donors. By reinforcing the mission in donor communications and interactions, you foster a sense of community and build trust with donors.

• Investments

Your mission can be a reference when crafting an Investment Policy Statement and working with an Outsourced Chief Investment Officer (OCIO) or other financial advisors. Similar to how a board reviews its investment performance, it may also decide to monitor how well its investments reflect its mission.

• Marketing

Look to your mission to guide your marketing messaging. This helps stakeholders experience your values through your public communications. Ways to achieve this include sharing success stories, testimonials from beneficiaries and statistics that demonstrate the effectiveness of the organization's programs. This can reinforce stakeholder participation -- from donations to volunteering to telling their social circles about the mission of the organization.

• Partnerships

Nonprofits engaging in strategic partnerships and formal alliances with other organizations should do so within the context of their mission. A policy should ensure board members review the goals and mission of the partner organization before engaging in any outside alliances. This helps prevent mission drift and safeguards the integrity of your nonprofit’s operations.

• Programs

As you maintain and develop your key programs and services, look to your mission to ensure the programs are achieving the organization's purpose and goals.

For example, if your mission centers on support of under-resourced children’s education, create programs to positively influence better outcomes for these children’s learning. Setup the ability to track program activity and progress so your organization can report on the accomplishments. Help your community see the positive aspects of the organization’s daily commitment. And remember that any new or existing programs should be regularly evaluated with your mission in mind.

• Strategic Planning

Effective nonprofits engage in long- and short-term strategic planning. It provides guidance for how to develop your key objectives, which then leads to results or desired outcomes. Building your strategic plan around your mission also provides a means to evaluate the success of your activities. In short, your mission is the centerpiece of your strategic planning process, to ensure alignment with goals and desired community impact.

• Evaluation

A final yet vital step is the ongoing evaluation process. Through a defined evaluation procedure, a nonprofit can ensure all financial resources and human capital are being used toward fulfilling its mission. In tandem with regular strategic planning sessions, ongoing evaluation of organizational operations can support a regular review of the mission itself. The goal is to confirm your mission matches where you use your resources. This is how a nonprofit continues to serve a valued role in the community.

Creating Cultural Influence

Ultimately, your mission statement directly influences the culture your organization builds, both internally with your board, staff and volunteers, and externally with the community.

Externally, your organization can encourage broad community participation in important topical discussions and decision-making. By engaging diverse groups of people who care about the organization’s work and the people it serves, nonprofits can mobilize support, learn from peers, respond to community concerns and create an inclusive culture.

Nonprofit boards and leaders have a complex task, carrying out challenging missions with limited resources and sometimes conflicting demands. Open communication and inclusive decision-making with staff and volunteers can strengthen the organizational culture while making it easier to adapt to opportunities in an ever-shifting environment.

To stay effective as an essential community resource, rely on your mission statement. It will illustrate to your community what you stand for. It is what will continue to tie together the practices and policies within your public charity. And it will help your organization maintain its integrity as it continues to fulfill its purpose.