Guest post by Garin Kilpatrick

With over 1.6 million nonprofits in America and over 3 million worldwide there is a very real need for nonprofits to stand out from the crowd if they want to secure the funding they need to survive.

A powerful way for a nonprofit to stand out is by writing a clear, concise and compelling mission statement.

In this article I will show you how to write a strong mission statement.

To do so I will begin by sharing some of the better mission statements I have discovered while working with the excellent nonprofit platform Every.org.

Attention spans are shorter than ever in our increasingly digital age so the ability to communicate the essence of a nonprofit with a punchy mission statement has never been more important.

Here are 10 impactful nonprofit mission statements you can use as inspiration to create an incredible mission statement of your own.

1. The Humane Society

Celebrating Animals, Confronting Cruelty.

2. charity: water

Bringing clean, safe drinking water to people in developing countries.

3. Save the Children

To inspire breakthroughs in the way the world treats children and to achieve immediate and lasting change in their lives.

4. Oceana

Protecting and restoring the world's oceans.

5. ASPCA

To provide effective means for the prevention of cruelty to animals throughout the United States.

6. American Red Cross

The American Red Cross prevents and alleviates human suffering in the face of emergencies by mobilizing the power of volunteers and the generosity of donors.​

7. New York Public Library

To inspire lifelong learning, advance knowledge, and strengthen our communities.

8. GlobalGiving

To transform aid and philanthropy to accelerate community-led change.

9. Kiva

To connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty.

10. Feeding America

A hunger-free America.

Mission Statement Inspiration From Corporations


Corporations are explicitly profit motivated and this profit motivation has helped distill many of the most memorable mission statements/slogans of all time.

Here are a few of my favorites:

NIKE: Just Do It

Apple: Think Different

Milk: Drink Milk

Tesla: Accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy

TED: Spread ideas

What do all of these powerful mission statements and slogans have in common? Brevity.

Shakespeare said “Brevity is the art of wit” and he was right.

Less is more when it comes to memorability.

More Tips For Writing Your Mission Statement


The more people you can involve in writing your mission statement the better - so long as getting more people involved does not lead to an overly lengthy statement.

Once you are happy with your mission statement work on making it as succinct and memorable as possible.

Watch this brief video from the movie A River Runs Through It for advice about the art of saying more with less.

Make Your Mission Statement Unforgettable

If you want your Mission Statement to entice make sure to use a literary device.
The two literary devices I believe are most impactful for memorability are:

Alliteration and Rhyme.

Rhymes chime in the mind of your reader like a massive brass organ playing on Easter.

And alliteration is awesome almost every time.

Conclusion

Keep it brief, make it memorable, and add a literary device for some spice.


About the Author

Follow Garin Kilpatrick @Garin on Twitter for daily positive tweets and check out GarinKilpatrick.com to discover what I’m up to around the Internet.


The views and opinions expressed in this blog belong solely to the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other organization including Every.org.