New Orleans Neighborhoods Partnership Network

Writing a Mission Statement

A mission statement sums up your organization’s reason for being. It explains your intentions, priorities, and values to people both inside and outside the group. It can guide you and help you stay focused on the things that are most important to you.

Creating a Mission Statement: Start by brainstorming among the members of your group. What are they there for? What do they want to see the group accomplish? What values, standards and goals do they never want to lose sight of? Write down everything people suggest at first, without debating the ideas. When you’ve run out of new thoughts, see if you can find some that are similar or have common themes. Try to come up with statements summarizing these concepts. Let people discuss and make adjustments until everyone can agree with, or at least not object to, what you’ve written.

Your mission statement should be communicated to new members of your group, and to anyone who wants to know what you’re all about. Your mission statement doesn’t need to be set in stone. In time you may want to revise it. Changing your mission statement should be done with careful consideration, making sure that all your members can have their say about it, and finalized using the group’s usual method of making important decisions.

Created By: Neighborhoods Partnership Network