Ask an Advisor Answers

 
              Thank you, Martin, for writing to us at Ask an Advisor with your important question. We definitely agree that an organization’s vision and mission are important factors in its community work.
            How might you adjust yours?  One basic criterion for a vision and mission is that it should be clear to your organizational members and to potential future members, so that people can easily understand what your organization does and what it wants to do.  In your case, I’m not sure your current vision as stated is as clear or specific as it could be. What do you think?
             A second criterion is that the vision in particular should be  “big” – that is, it should do some stretching of the imagination, so that people will feel motivated even inspired by your hopes and dreams.   
              Beyond that, the specifics of a vision andmission depend on your particular organization and its goals. For example, if your organization now collects donations and pays tuition for disadvantaged students, then it makes sense that your vision and mission should be related to those activities, and also that it should help stimulate donations. Your vision and mission can do some real work for you!        
              One further point, which is if you revise your vision and mission, it’s good to test it out on your members and ask for feedback. It’s okay and natural that your vision and mission go through several different drafts before you arrive at the one you like best.  In this sense, it’s like any other piece of creative writing.   
           For further information, you might benefit from consulting some relevant materials in the Tool Box, such as Chapter 8 on Planning. Chapter 8, Section 1, which deals specifically with visions and missions, may be especially valuable to you. 
             We hope some of these thoughts may be helpful to you. Thanks again for being in touch, and all best wishes for continued success in your work.