What makes a nonprofit mission statement effective?

This week I had a conversation with someone in a program staff role, who works for a youth-oriented nonprofit. She relayed her understanding of the organization’s mission to me and expressed frustration that the mission didn’t seem to extend to the staff in the same way that it did to the youth they serve.

In my exploration of the idea that communication constitutes an organization, this conversation had me thinking about how strong internal communication affects staff satisfaction (and therefore staff retention). When I sat down to write, I thought this was going to be about ways to embed values in internal systems.

As a natural next step, I visited the nonprofit’s website. When I got there I was surprised to see that the mission her employer listed was completely different from what she had described to me. Beyond that, I was surprised to see that the mission was 5 paragraphs long. Out of the 150+ words in the mission, only 5 of them described the program staff’s understanding of it. After seeing the mission statement myself, I was not surprised at all about the program staffer’s interpretation. A mission statement that can't produce consistent understanding isn't doing its job.

Blair Enns has a phrase I always think about when I encounter underdeveloped communications. He says that to an external audience, vagueness represents “work not done.” I would extend that idea to include memorability. If your mission statement isn’t specific, brief and memorable, then you’re leaving it open to interpretation. You haven’t done the work, and the consequence will be a lack of consistent understanding, which can contribute to things like internal frustration and mission drift.

Working on your mission means not only clarifying it, it also means optimizing it for memory and finding ways to communicate it often, at every level, both internally and externally. Missions are meant to direct an organization’s energy. But the only way that works is if they are functional enough to be remembered, and referenced clearly and often enough to become a shared understanding for people across the organization.

After my conversation with this program staffer, I propose a simple test to nonprofit leaders: The next time you are casually connecting with a program staffer or volunteer, ask if they can repeat or summarize your organization’s mission statement. The answers you get back will give you an idea of how effective your mission statement is.