Contents
What Is a Nonprofit?
How to Define Your Mission
How to Choose and Protect Your Nonprofit’s Name
How to Set Up Your Board
How to Write Your Articles of Incorporation
Nonprofit Tax Matters
How to Write Your Bylaws
Nonprofit Management and Operations Issues
Insurance for Your Nonprofit
Nonprofit Fundraising Basics
Nonprofit Publicity Basics
Learn more with these titles from Barnes & Noble
|
 |
 |
 |
|
How to Define Your Mission
When planning to start a nonprofit, clearly articulating the mission, or overall purpose of your organization, is among the most important tasks you face. Your state will require you to file articles of incorporation that describe what the organization was created to do. The IRS also requires that your goals benefit the public in specific ways. Your staff and volunteers will need to understand the mission in order to fulfill it, donors will give according to their belief in your aims, and you’ll judge your own performance against the standard as well.
How to Find Your Niche
Your passion for a particular cause may prompt you to start a nonprofit organization, but
before you start, you’ll need to supplement your enthusiasm with research to create an organization that will best serve the needs of the community. Telephone surveys, questionnaires, focus groups, and interviews are all great methods for collecting information about specific community concerns. This information can help you make sure that the goals of your organization match your community’s needs.
How to Write a Mission Statement
Mission statements guide nonprofits by concisely describing whom the organization serves, what it hopes to accomplish, and how it plans to execute these goals. The best mission statements are focused, clear, and engaging. Take the American Red Cross for example. Its mission statement says: “The American Red Cross is a humanitarian organization, led by volunteers, that provides relief to victims of disasters and helps people prevent, prepare for, and respond to emergencies . . .” It states whom the organization serves (victims of disasters), what it hopes to provide (relief) and how (by helping people prevent, prepare for, and respond to emergencies). Writing your mission statement is the first step toward getting the right people involved in your organization.
Mission Statement Tips
Mission statements can be easier to write if you use the following guidelines:
- Separate ends from means: What your organization does is different from what it hopes to accomplish. Don’t get so bogged down in describing the means or methods you’ll employ that you forget to state your larger end, or aim. For example, your end could be to eliminate illiteracy in your city, whereas related means might include establishing reading clubs, training tutors, or distributing books.
- Don’t be too specific: Think of the mission statement as an umbrella that covers your organization’s general area of concern. You don’t have to define your geographical reach to a three-block radius, but perhaps a county or state line is an appropriate limit. Ideally, it should be specific enough to set you apart from related organizations but general enough that you don’t have to revise it frequently.
- Keep it brief: Your mission statement should be expressed in 3-4 sentences or less. This limit will force you to think deeply about the purpose of your organization and capture it as succinctly as possible. Anything longer crosses the line and becomes an operating plan.
- Write collaboratively: The designated writer of the mission statement (whether it’s you or someone else) should speak with several people who will be involved in the nonprofit in order to identify the key themes to incorporate. Using the input of others is a valuable team-building exercise. Moreover, if no one can agree on the organization’s mission, that’s a powerful sign that your charity may be heading for trouble.
- Write clearly: Limit complex words, insider vocabulary, and flowery language to ensure that you get your point across. Make it easy for donors and other key audiences to understand your mission.
- Test it out: Once key stakeholders within the organization have refined a draft of the mission statement, share it with someone outside the organization. They may be able to point out jargon, inconsistencies, or omissions that people too close to the project are likely to miss.
If your mission statement turns out to be inexact, you’ll be able to modify it later to describe your mission more accurately.
| Acknowledgments & Disclaimer |
