A mission statement is like the girder of a building. If one wants the building to grow and develop, one HAS TO GET THE GIRDER RIGHT. Girders are large horizontal beams that act as the primary support for a building, to which all other smaller beams are connected, forming the structure's  skeleton.

 

A mission statement is a simple statement about the goals, values, and objectives of an organization. It helps an organization respond to change and make decisions that align with its vision.  A quality mission statement incorporates your foundation's core-values and reflects your organization’s personality.

A mission statement is defined as an action-based statement that declares the purpose of an organization and how it serves the world. This sometimes includes a description of the organization, what it does, and its objectives. A mission statement is a short summary of your organization’s purpose.

A mission statement provides perfect clarity behind the “what,” the “who,” and the “why,” of your organization. The best mission statements are guidelines by which you operate. Everything you do as an organization should work toward your mission statement.

Most mission statements are between one and three sentences, never exceeding 100 words. The best mission statements are typically a single succinct sentence, so keep this in mind when crafting yours. When creating a mission statement, avoid the common pratfall of trying to summarize your organization’s services in a generic sentence.

What prominent challenges does your organization solve? Why are you founding this organization? Who are your clients and what do they value most?  What kind of image do we want to convey to the outside world as an organization? How do we use our services to reach our goals? 

The best mission statements are developed by the leaders of the organization who understand its direction. Discuss the mission statements and identify central themes.

Next, review the common themes that emerge during conversations, distilling them into paragraphs. You’ll want to set aside several hours to do this or even an entire day. It’s important that you carve out the necessary time to spend on this process since crafting a mission statement is critical to identifying the motivations behind your business. When developing ideas, keep the following in mind:

Your mission statement should be attainable. Your organization should be working toward it already and it should be possible to achieve. Ensure your mission statement is clear so everyone can understand it. The best mission statements are inspiring. It should set your organization apart from others and be unique to you. Your mission statement needs to be credible and inspire buy-in from all your major stakeholders.

Once you’ve identified your themes, distill them down to simple sentences capturing the mission of your organization.  Once you have these paragraphs written, rewrite each to be more succinct. Eliminate as many unnecessary sentences as you can. Once you have each paragraph distilled down to three sentences, challenge yourself to combine these sentences into a single thought that encapsulates your theme. Do this with every theme you’ve discovered during your and you’ll end up with several options for a mission statement.