Articulating Social Impact Mission

How to Craft a More Effective Mission, Vision, and Value

When you set out to begin articulating the vision, mission, and purpose of your non-profit, business, or organization, it will inevitably feel daunting. These words tend to be thrown around haphazardly and interchanged without much thought. When, in fact, they describe and point to very specific aspects of your organization. While related, they each need to be addressed singularly at first. So, let’s begin —

The Why — Choosing a Mission that Matters

The first step you will take on this journey is to articulate your mission. The mission of your organization should address exactly why you are trying to accomplish it. Many times people will get caught in talking about how they are going to do something. Do not get confused, the how is the strategy. The mission is the what.

Your mission statement ought to be sharp and focused. Or as Kevin Starr said in his article The Eight-Word Mission Statement, it should be “long enough to be specific and short enough to force clarity.”

In order to hone in on what exactly you are setting out to accomplish, you will want to look more broadly at your organization’s purpose. The purpose is closely linked to mission, in that it…