Mission Statements Are Strategic

In any enterprise creating a mission statement belongs to the strategic planning process. In grant writing it is important to be aware of issues and concepts surrounding strategic planning. As such there are three things that organizations need to state clearly and up front: Vision, values and mission. This post talks about the role of the mission statement in grant writing for nonprofit organizations.

If you are working as a freelance grant writer then you need to have the capacity to confer on the same level as your client. If they trust you as a competent advisor it will be because you have the ability to add something to the writing process by recognizing what fits into the picture and what doesn’t.

What Does it Look Like?

Mission statements typically just express what the organization is doing, in the present tense. A great example is the Ford Foundation’s, which claims:

“The Ford Foundation supports visionary leaders and organizations on the front lines of social change worldwide”

This is a simple, to-the-point explanation of what the organization is doing. What I really like about is that it’s smart and pithy, without becoming cute. It also manages to reference the broader concept of vision.

Another terrific example is Edutopia, the website of The George Lucas Education Foundation:

” … dedicated to improving the K-12 learning process by documenting, disseminating, and advocating for innovative, replicable, and evidence-based strategies that prepare students to thrive in their future education, careers, and adult lives.”

It then goes on to give a vision statement that follows up and extends the mission to where they would like to be in the long-run. That’s a knockout combination.

Indicate Your Alignment

All nonprofit organizations need to ensure that they have a mission statement that clearly expresses their purpose. Funders will use this declaration to evaluate whether your program is aligned to their missions. Likewise, you should have the capacity to identify if there is alignment of a potential funder and your goals.

There is no value in wasting time applying to them if a prospective funder’s mission statement clashes with your own. Obviously this is just a basic indicator and further research will show their funding objectives carefully. But an obvious misalignment can save you the trouble of looking.

The Breakdown

The following points put in a nutshell how to construct a mission statement:

• State what your organization does
• Get to the point in a couple of sentences
• Create motion with your words
• Use the present tense
• Turn it into a statement whereby alignment to your cause can be judged

Final Review

Mission statements are basic tools to communicate your goals to all of your stakeholders, not just potential grant funders. They uphold all fund raising vehicles, they provide direction to your staff and volunteers, and they build hope to the recipients of your actions that you can provide the resources for change.

In grant proposal writing mission statements communicate alignment and create confidence that your cause should be funded. As a professional grant writer having a clear succinct mission statement will make your job just a little easier.