How-To Tips: Implementing Practice 1b

Ensure the mission is responsive to the constituency and communities to be served by the organization.

Mission statements express the purpose of the organization. They help those inside and outside the organization understand what you want to achieve and whether you are successful.

The mission should express a clear understanding of the beneficiaries of the organization's work - individuals, families, a particular target population, communities linked by geography or common characteristics, or other nonprofits - and what the organization hopes to achieve on their behalf. "To what extent does this organization accomplish the purpose it lays out for itself?" is the first and most basic evaluation question.

Nonprofits generally revisit their mission every few years, often during long-range strategic planning or program evaluations, to make sure it still represents the work the organization undertakes and continues to respond to the people the organization serves. Organization may gauge responsiveness to constituency and community through quantitative data on outcomes, case studies, feedback forms, periodic surveys, or representation on the governing body or a governing body committee.

Some organizations invite groups of constituents to come together for focus groups or to discuss their experiences with governing body members. Others may retain an outside consultant to conduct telephone interviews and report feedback anonymously. The governing body and staff, perhaps with constituent representatives or an outside evaluator, review the information collected and then determine whether the mission needs revisions and if so, what they should be.

Many publications and resources exist to help nonprofits create and refine their missions. To get started with the process, ask everyone at a governing body committee meeting to jot down the organization's mission. Then post the existing mission and discuss similarities and differences with the perceived or remembered missions. Some organizations use "key word" exercises to help identify the most important content of the mission.

It may also prove useful to provide the governing body with several sample mission statements that demonstrate clarity of purpose and responsiveness to constituency. An important test for the mission statement is whether it is easy to remember and recite aloud.

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