Writing a Mission Statement for Nonprofit That Stands Out

Nonprofits have helped women find their place in society, but their work is never done. It is imperative that nonprofits continue to do all that good work and raise awareness about the most important and crucial issues. In order to be able to do that, every nonprofit needs to have a clear and well thought out mission statement. Its goal is to explain why your nonprofit organization exists in the first place. This is important, because if nobody knows about the mission, nobody is going to care.

But, your organization’s mission statement shouldn’t just focus on explaining the way it works. It should target a much broader picture, and focus on promoting the values of those it supports, as well. While it’s also important to mention where your organization will head in the future, it shouldn’t be a part of your mission. Your mission statement is about today. You need a clear goal and a mission in the present which can spark the people’s interest and get them to stand behind it for a good cause.

It is a singular most important piece of content your organization will ever write, which means you should be really careful when putting it together. Here are ways how you can make it stand out.

1. Make Sure It’s Specific

Your mission statement should be fairly single-minded, since it has a specific goal mi mind. Instead of filling it with empty platitudes and filler content, focus on that one idea that has the power to inspire the support of others and which sets apart your nonprofit organization from others which have similar goals. This means you should come up with something more than “to raise money for…”. If you are having trouble coming up with a mission statement that is clear and inspiring, perhaps you should look for a professional writer from a reputable coursework writing service. They gather professional writers and editors whose job is to put write content for organization, among other things, and that includes mission statements.

2. Look Beyond Your Organization

One of the most common mistakes all nonprofit organizations make when writing their mission statements is to write them from their own perspective. Remember, your goal is to raise money and/or support for a particular cause. And the source of that are people outside of your organization which you are trying to convince to join your cause. This means they should be able to identify with your mission statement. It should resonate with them, so that they see a part of themselves in it. And you are going to do that by being very specific, clear, and inspiring, just as we have explained in the previous paragraph.

3. Define the End Goal

Another thing you should always include in your mission statement is a clear end goal. It may be the amount of money you need to raise for a particular cause, or the number of supporters you need to gatherbehind it. In any case, having an end goal means there is a specific point at which you can say that your mission has been successful. If your organization’s mission statement doesn’t have one, or it is too vague, perhaps you should consider rewriting it. For example, the goal of raising 100,000 dollars for a specific cause will get you a lot more support instead of one which just states that you need to raise an unspecified sum for a general cause.

4. Make It Concise

Your mission statement should focus on “why” instead of “what”. A lot of nonprofits fail at this, so they go on and on about what they do, when they should be focus on why they are doing it. Your mission statement should be just one sentence or even less than that. Try a little experiment. Write your mission statement, and then set it aside for a couple of days. Read it again, and then rewrite it using less words. Repeat this process a few times, and in the end, you will be able see that you’ve trimmed a lot of the words which weren’t necessary in the first place, and all that is left are those that really matter.

5. Have Someone Else Read It

And we don’t mean people in your organization. Since you are going to be addressing people outside out of, you should find a few which aren’t familiar with the cause and present them with your mission statement. In case they have realized what it is, then you’re on the right track. Also, if you come across a similar suggestion on how you can improve it coming from different people, you should definitely consider it.

Conclusion

While there is a lot more work to be done when you are fighting for a good cause, coming up with your organization’s mission statement is essential, because that is how you get things started. More importantly, it is what gets other people to take action.

BIO

Laura Buckler is a writer and a book author. She spends her free time supporting and volunteering for several different causes.