Episode 290: When Absolutely Necessary – The Why and How of Changing the Nonprofit Mission
What a great day, on this edition! During this edition of Around with Randall, I want to tempt us to think about doing something that we have always been told. If we've been in the nonprofit space, the philanthropic world, never to do, and that is to adjust or to change your mission statement or your mission of the organization. Where did all this come from?
I am working on a strategic planning effort with a great organization, and as we've gone through this process, we've been through this setup. We've been through kind of the discernment of the current facts. We've done the kind of in-person retreat and do was during that retreat that we began to realize, and when I say we, I mean them.
But I was sensing it was asking them, prodding questions to figure out if that's really what they wanted to do, this idea or this thought process around the mission and what was occurring in the conversation as they were brainstorming about what were the initiatives that were going to be a priority, they came to the conclusion that the mission, as it stated, actually really doesn't describe where they're going to go.
Now, out of full disclosure, they aren't changing the massive function of the organization in terms of its global perspective in the nonprofit space in which the community they serve. They were talking about how they were going to do what they do differently based upon a changing world. And that led us to this internal, interesting discussion about changing the mission.
Missions are important. We don't talk about them very often. I think we make the assumption that we kind of know them and that they are present, but they are the guide for our decision making, for our strategy, for our initiatives. They help us determine the determined priorities they communicate to people, donors, volunteers and community clients, whomever, about who it is you are and what you do.
And it should, if done correctly, which is the last piece that we ran into was Create Organizational Focus, where this organization had a little bit of a challenge as this focus, because what they were looking to do and what the strategic plan is going to drive them toward, is just enough different from what the stated mission was, that there was a conversation around, maybe we need to widen it to make sure we're actually reflecting the work that we're doing.
With all of this said, I want to be the first to say that I don't believe mission should change all that often. The word infrequently isn't strongly enough, articulating the need to keep a mission consistent. And missions aren't about marketing value. So as in the situation that I have been speaking about, this isn't about they were strategically thinking about 15 or 17 or 20 years ago.
The way they described their organization would not be the way they would describe it today, which means that a mission becomes a declarative purpose. And they were wanting to declare their purpose a little bit differently than they had in the past. Part of that was technology. Part of it was needs of the particular community in which they serve.
The question isn't whether or not organization should change their mission every few years. They shouldn't. Let me be the first to say again, you shouldn't change it all that often. But the question is, is when does the mission accurately reflect what the organization is and what it actually does? And there are times where that might change. So let's talk for a moment about kind of this push and pull of mission drift and mission stagnation.
Mission drift is when the organization begins to do things that don't really aren't articulated within the mission statement. That might be in effect. Now, that doesn't mean they're changing the global perspective. It might mean that the mission drafted in the previous period of time, either in its foundation or if there was a new iteration, was drafted to narrowly.
But what it's doing is, is it's really driving a little bit different direction from what the operations and what the strategic initiatives are actually doing. It might actually explain the opposite problem if it's not done correctly. Mission is, is that the organization has evolved, but the mission statement is remained kind of frozen. And that's that stagnation.
So let me give you a couple of examples. And none of these are related to the client which I'm working with is, is that it might be something like a food pantry, who now also provides workforce development for those who need the food pantry. Well, if the initial mission statement was only about food, then you're not accurately describing the workforce development that parallels maybe the community's need that aligns with the organization and what it wants to do.
It's an organization that maybe started, let's say, in healthcare as a hospital foundation that only did certain fundraising aspects, and it was stated so in the mission, but now they're there supporting programmatic things going on in the hospital. That difference in mission would be limiting if you don't include what you're actually doing. It's a arts organization, let's say, like a museum that over time has begun to deliver what might be considered substantial or regular or important educational programing on the arts.
Maybe they've opened a school for our, you know, strong art students. I think about my daughter in this particular case who love the arts. Well, if that were the key, then we would want to make an adjustment. The key point here is, is that we have to remember that missions should describe the reality of who we are and what we do, maybe encompass the history, but it shouldn't be about the history.
Which brings us to the moments when we should maybe the we start a global. We work our way down. One of the moments that we should consider redoing the mission. What are some of these trigger points? So when the programs, number one, consistently operate outside the stated mission, we stated the food pantry as an example a moment ago, and all of a sudden now they're doing what might be considered workforce development.
So you've got to make a change that the staff and board members explain the organization, when asked what it is and what it does differently than what the mission statement actually states. And if that's happening, that means it would probably aren't aligning exactly what there is to what their needs to be. The third is, is that donors are confused by what the organization is, what it does, and what it says.
It is that you getting key constituents in the relationship building process all of a sudden asking questions around, wait a minute. I've always supported the organization because of this. It sounds like you're doing that. Number four is that the strategic plans? And this is right where we were a couple weeks ago with this organization. I'm working with that.
The strategic plans repeatedly reference work not reflected in the mission. And this was the circumstance where we found ourselves is, is that all of a sudden, the things that needed to be done to serve the greater purpose of the organization and most importantly, a really important community need legitimate, honest. But all of a sudden, when you put the mission statement up there and where the board was going to go to do to solve this greater problem or challenge or need didn't align, it wasn't that they were misaligned, but they didn't line up very well if they were off 5 or 10 degrees.
Which brought us into the conversation of maybe we need to redefine who we are a little bit. The last is, and this is also, I think, evident in the client work that I was doing, is, is that community's needs have changed. In this case, technology had changed the organizational direction operationally, daily in some pretty dramatic ways. What they said they used to do, technology had kind of driven out leaning.
They were doing similar things, but they weren't really doing the things that they were articulating in their mission. So this is where we need to review our mission periodically. And I'm talking about over decades. If you're reviewing your mission, let me go back. I want to be very clear. I don't want to be accused of saying something I didn't mean.
If you're reviewing your mission and making adjustments every year, that's not what we're talking about here. It should only be changed when there's a compelling reason, when one of these five things or two of these or three of these five things appear, that there's a misalignment. And if the signs are there, that really the question then is how do we make these changes?
And this brings us to the tactical piece, which we do every week on a round with Randall, five tactical, practical things that would be a part of adjusting your mission. How should you do this? So let's assume that as you've looked at what you do, maybe it came up in the alignment of a strategy session. Maybe it came up in goals for an annual, you know, evaluation or development of annual tactical plans.
They're not aligning. Maybe somebody just said, wait a minute, this was written 45 years ago, and we really don't do that as much anymore. Maybe we do things differently. Let's assume all that's in place. We've had that conversation and somebody now like thinking maybe we should maybe talk about this a little bit more. So let's start with recommendation number one.
Start with your identity, not with opportunity. Rewriting or adjusting or making adjustments to a mission statement should never be based upon funding opportunities. Fundraising. You need to ask some basic questions, none of which has anything to do with let's get more money. And by the way, you all know I like money, but mission statements aren't the place where that's stated.
I'd ask who we are and what problem are we trying to solve. And we started that process with my client in this retreat. And what they came to the conclusion is who they were and what problem they were solving and why they existed didn't align with what was stated wasn't terribly wrong, but it wasn't very clear. And in their case, they're kind of an association nonprofit.
What was happening is, is people are getting confused as to what they really were doing. And as the organization rightfully so, great strategic planning process, not because I was leading it, but because they were highly engaged. They began to realize that the reason they exist and the problems they were trying to solve and who they had become, weren't what they were 20 years ago.
Based upon technology and the needs of the community, purpose. Mission should drive revenue streams, philanthropy, fundraising, membership, whatever. Not the reverse. If you're letting funding drive purpose, then you're really not being true to anything because as soon as the funding changes, you'll change. So number one, start with identity, not opportunity. Number. Number two is to really study what the organization actually does.
And that's where we were with my client and what we spent some time kind of unplanned. But during the strategic planning process talking about they began to look at the programs in the services and the outcomes, but most importantly, the resource allocation. This is a smaller nonprofit. This is not one with a 50 people per person staff. And we began to talk about it was part of the kind of the precession of what I tend to do in strategic planning about getting the staff to talk about what they do on a daily basis.
And what they found out was, is that the staff was doing things the board wanted them to do, but they weren't really aligning with what the mission said that the organization was. So by looking at where the staff spends her time examining why donors or members or whomever are willing to invest, because whether it's a membership organization, then it's as a nonprofit.
In this case, their donation is a fee or service. I mean, and as a result, when they begin to figure out why people were investing with them, it wasn't actually what the mission said they were doing. It was really where the board had gone and what the staff were being asked to do. The mission then needs to reflect reality.
What is it you actually do? And when you have these moments, should you adjust your mission statement? And the answer is yes to actually what goes on in terms of purpose and daily activity. Recommendation three is you have to do this in the right way. And what I mean by that is you've got to involve other people. This should never be done by an executive committee alone, or the executive director or the president or CEO or the executive team.
There are stakeholders involved in this. Number one are the fiduciaries who are responsible for the organization, which are the board members. Secondarily, there's leadership and staff that should be involved. Are they all kind of doing what we ask? But the most important group and I'll kind of break them into two is an A and a B is community donors, members, community representatives with the group that I was working with, the board is actually made up of community leaders within the community in which this nonprofit serves.
So we took care of that one. But what we got into was because only about 5% of the membership is on the board. Again, it's not a big organization. What we began to realize is maybe we should synthesize what we are doing and then share it as a recasting of the work that's actually being done. And we saw this in many kind of, I think, connected ways.
Number one, it would clarify to some people who might not want to be members anymore because they're looking at the mission about who it is they actually are and what they do, which would help membership. But number two, what a great way to reengage your best stakeholders, funders, members, whomever having an individual conversation, stewardship, connection, transformational connection around.
Here's who we're becoming from mission perspective. Does this fit with what you think we should be doing? If you're doing this in a vacuum, you're going to lose out, because what ends up happening is it'll be a small group of people who think they know what they're doing to the larger group who may say, yeah, that's not what should be done.
And so don't do this in isolation. Involve key stakeholders as a part of this process. Number four is to adjust, not dramatically change. Mission statements shouldn't take a 90 or 180 degree turn, because that's the purview of the board of directors, trustees, whatever they are in terms of governance and fiduciary responsibility. If there's a mission change, first start with gathering the perspectives and drafting language.
But then the second thing is looking at those common themes. Ensure that it's a modification and a slight adjustment. If the mission statement radically changes, then you're going to have people who are confused and upset because they thought they were investing in an organization that did X. Let's go back to the food pantry example we talked about earlier.
If the mission statement was something and I'm making this up, something simple like feeding the community when the comedian community needs food, you don't want to say changing that to we do workforce development. Well, what about the food piece? If the food pantry still involved, can you elevate that mission statement to saying, serving the community where it needs it most?
The basics of food and workforce development for self-reliance totally made up the mission. I'm not sure it's any good, but off the top of my head, that's an adjustment. The more radically you change your mission statement, the more you have to rewrite it. Because you know what? We want it to sound modern, or we want to make it sound cool or we want to.
It has to be crystal clear. And by the way, and I don't really talk about this in this edition, nor do I probably talk about it enough. Mission statement should be somewhat short. If you have to take six sentences to describe who you are, then you're not defining it the right way. One sentence, maybe one and a half.
One of the best mission statements that I was ever a part of and got to watch it be developed. No credit for it being developed. When I was at the University of Arizona medical center, and Ted Pullen, who is now at MD Anderson, did a phenomenal job of leading the process with the consultants they brought in. And our mission statement became four words, four words, extraordinary medicine.
Serious care described exactly who we were, and that lasted for almost two decades. So if you're making your mission statement adjustments, longer isn't better. Actually, shorter is better and more descriptive in terms of who you are and what you do. The last thing I would recommend is to test it. And what do I mean by test it? Well, two things.
Number one, who you test it with and how you test it. Being the second who you test it with is staff, donors, board members, membership, small focus groups. How you test it is to give it and say, what does that tell you about who we are and what we do? And if they come up with the things that you are actually intending to do or the things you do now, then your mission statement probably pretty much aligns with what's going on.
Can another way to look at it, can the board use the mission statement to drive short and long term strategy? And that was a disconnect in my client's case because what they said they were doing actually were not strategic initiatives at all. And these were really high quality, you know, 3 to 5 year strategic opportunities for them to really grow and do better and greater work within the same place that they were before.
But the mission didn't scribe those things. Can the board make decisions that fit under what the mission's articulating the organization's about, and does it clearly describe what you're trying to accomplish?
When you do this testing? If it doesn't quite come up correct or aligned, don't be afraid to redo it a little bit. Don't be afraid to adjust it, rewrite it, refine it, redefine it, but come to something that actually makes sense. So this testing idea before going public is really important to make sure what you think you're saying is actually what people are hearing.
Five tactical things. If you get into a situation where the mission statement is just a little bit off, number one, start with identity, not opportunity. It's not about the money. Number two, study what you actually do that reflects what you're trying to say. Number three is involve others in this. The key members, the key donors, the key community leaders that are important make them feel a part of.
By the way, what a great stewardship opportunity to say we need your help. Number four is a just slightly, carefully, but not dramatically. Your organization shouldn't be making a large change. And number five, test it with others to make sure what you say or what you think you're saying is actually what's being heard. Mission work is about stewardship.
It's a guidance of the ability for you to explain who you are and why you're important in making a difference in the community. Don't forget that leadership is a temporary caretaker of the organization's mission that it probably existed. Leaders being the board, executive leadership, all existed before people got there. And certainly, if done correctly, going to exist well after they're gone.
So the goal is not to leave a personal imprint. It's about to ensure that the mission, if it's adjusted, remains accurate, relevant and useful to describe who you are and what you do. The strongest organizations chunks nonprofit organizations in our community are not the ones that never change. They're the ones who know that the core of who they are probably doesn't change, but the way in which they do it might adjust, and that a mission shouldn't be stable enough or should be, excuse me, stable enough to really provide a really quality idea of direction and flexibility based in reality, and that when you have those things, a mission statement comes alive.
When you have direction and flexibility based in reality, what you have is something that really extolls the virtues of why you're there and what it means, what value you bring, why people should be engaged with you. And at the end of the day, it's a true statement of the purpose of what you're trying to get to in the future.
I'm again not a proponent of changing the mission statement very often, but it does occur. And when it does follow some of these steps, I think what it will do in the right kind of conversations with the right process allow your organization to reflect the work that you do. Through the most important statement that you make, your mission and what you're trying to accomplish to make the community a better place.
Don't forget to check out the blogs and how it philanthropy two per week. Write about all kinds of things. You get an RSS feed that's Hallett philanthropy, backslash blogs. And if you'd like to reach out to me it's podcast@hallettphilanthropy.com.
People will tell you that things are a little topsy turvy right now. If you've just asked the question a little unstable, there's a lot of things going on in the world, and I come back to what I try to say each and every week about the value of what you do as a nonprofit leader, employee, board member, CEO, volunteer, whomever gift officer doesn't make any difference.
You bring value to the mission of the organization which you are a part of, and it's important. Philanthropy. Remember, nonprofit work sits in between this idea of free enterprise and governance or government service, where government isn't all that efficient. And number two, that free prize is in it for the money. Make a profit. Does it make them bad?
But they have a certain purpose. And between the two. Inefficiency and capitalism sits holes. That's what nonprofits do at their very heightened best mission work. How do we fill those holes in the various ways that our community needs? And you do that. Which brings me to my all time favorite saying some people make things happen. Some people watch things happen.
Then there are those who wondered what happened. You're someone who is continuing to try to be force the organization you work with and you believe in to become and continue to be somebody, something that makes something happen because there's all too often too many people and places in our community that are wondering what happened. And that's where philanthropy, love of mankind, love of humankind is at its best.
I'll look forward to seeing the next time right back here on the next edition of Around with Randall. And don't forget. Make it a great day.