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17 Seriously Inspiring Mission and Vision Statement Examples (2024)

Money is a by-product of value .

So, to thrive in the long run, businesses must remain focused on producing value.

However, it’s easy to lose sight of value creation and get sidetracked by other things like profit margins, expanding your product catalogs , or competitors.

To become a runaway success, businesses must have a purpose that unites and inspires people – “make more money” won’t do the trick. As the author Simon Sinek said , “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.”

This is why organizations create mission and vision statements.

These statements unify the organization and keep everyone focused on what really matters – because if you get these things right, the profits will follow.

This post will give you an introduction to the two statements. Plus, we’ll share some great mission and vision statement examples to help inspire your own. 

Now, let’s dive in.

What is a Mission Statement?

A mission statement is a short summary of an organization’s core purpose, focus, and aims. This usually includes a brief description of what the organization does and its key objectives.

What is a Vision Statement?

A vision statement is a short description of an organization’s aspirations and the wider impact it aims to create. It should be a guiding beacon to everyone within the organization and something which underpins internal decision-making and determines the intended direction of the organization.

Mission Statement vs Vision Statement: What’s The Difference?

In short: The mission is the “ what ” and the “ how ,” and the vision is the “ why .”

The mission statement defines what an organization does and includes tangible goals which the organization strives to accomplish. The vision statement, meanwhile, should clarify the aspirations of the organization and define the direction it’s heading in.

Many organizations combine the two statements to form one clearly defined reason for existing that unites the efforts of everyone involved.

Does Your Business Need Mission and Vision Statements?

Mission and vision statements are signposts.

Effective mission and vision statements will unify the focus of an organization – for the organization and their target audience .

Okay, but what if you’re only just starting a business ?

Well, whether you’re a massive corporation or a solopreneur , you can use mission and vision statements to gain clarity and ensure that you consistently make decisions in line with your ultimate goals.

These statements also help you develop a stronger brand that differentiates you from the competition.

Now, let’s look at some examples.

Mission and Vision Statement Examples

For quick reference, here are 17 examples of mission and vision statements from highly successful businesses:

• Tesla : To accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.
• Nike : Bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete* in the world. *If you have a body, you are an athlete.
• MVMT : Style shouldn’t break the bank.
• Warby Parker : To offer designer eyewear at a revolutionary price, while leading the way for socially conscious businesses.
• Shopify : Make commerce better for everyone, so businesses can focus on what they do best: building and selling their products.
• Patagonia : Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.
• IKEA : To create a better everyday life for the many people.
• TED : Spread ideas.
• Amazon : To be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online.
• Southwest Airlines : To become the world’s most loved, most flown, and most profitable airline.
• Google : To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.
• Asos : Become the world’s number-one destination for fashion-loving 20-somethings.
• Loreal : To provide the best in cosmetics innovation to women and men around the world with respect for their diversity.
• Bulletproof : Help people perform better, think faster, and live better.
• Honest Tea : Create and promote great-tasting, healthy, organic beverages.
• Starbucks: To inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time.
• Passionfruit: Create inclusive clothing and accessories that enable you to show your pride all year round while giving back to our community.

17 Inspiring Mission and Vision Statements Explained

Now you know what they are and how they serve organizations, let’s take a closer look at these mission and vision statement examples and draw out the key components.

Mission statement: To create the most compelling car company of the 21st century by driving the world’s transition to electric vehicles.

Vision statement: To accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.

Tesla’s mission and vision statements are a class act.

Their mission statement clearly defines their core goal: “To create the most compelling car company of the 21st century.” Then it tells you how they intend to accomplish that goal: “By driving the world’s transition to electric vehicles.”

It’s simple and it works.

However, it’s Tesla’s vision statement that stands out.

The car company’s clever use of the world “accelerate” helps to enliven their lofty aspiration. This vision statement also showcases their drive (pun intended) for sustainable energy and how it steers (pun intended) the business.

It also allows them room to explore and develop their other set of energy solutions, Powerwall, Powerpack and Solar Roof.

All in all, Tesla’s vision for sustainable energy is one that resonates with countless people around the world.

Mission statement: Create groundbreaking sports innovations, make our products sustainably, build a creative and diverse global team, and make a positive impact in communities where we live and work.

Vision statement: Bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete* in the world.

*If you have a body, you are an athlete.

Nike’s mission statement might sound run-of-the-mill, but it effectively sums up what they aim to do and how they aim to do it.

Take note of the words that declare Nike’s underlying company values: Innovation, sustainability, diversity, and community.

However, it’s Nike’s vision statement that has captured the hearts of millions.

“To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world” sounds a little vague at first. It’s Nike co-founder Bill Bowerman’s addition that hits you right in the feels: “If you have a body, you are an athlete.”

Bowerman’s statement staunchly stands up against body-shaming and is a powerful call for inclusion. And it’s not hard to see this shape Nike’s philosophy and marketing:

As a result, Nike’s vision statement is transformed into a moving sentiment that impacts every person who reads it. It’s also one of the best vision statement examples for business owners to use for inspiration.

Mission and vision statement: We were founded on the belief that style shouldn’t break the bank. Our goal is to change the way you think about fashion by delivering premium designs at radically fair prices.

MVMT have combined their company mission statement and vision statement and addressed it directly to customers.

It begins with the vision: “Style shouldn’t break the bank.”

This business vision statement cuts straight to the point and perfectly sums up MVMT’s key selling proposition of high-quality fashion watches at low prices.

The statement then goes on to explain the mission.

First, they tell you what they aim to achieve: “Change the way you think about fashion.” Then, they tell you how they intend to do it: “By delivering premium designs at radically fair prices.”

It’s short, punchy, and music to customers’ ears.

4.  Warby Parker

Mission statement: Warby Parker was founded with a rebellious spirit and a lofty objective: To offer designer eyewear at a revolutionary price, while leading the way for socially conscious businesses.

Vision statement: We believe that buying glasses should be easy and fun. It should leave you happy and good-looking, with money in your pocket. We also believe that everyone has the right to see.

Warby Parker’s mission statement reminds us of why it was founded and then reveals its aims for a better future.

Note their core business aim: “Offer designer eyewear at a revolutionary price.”

In the vision statement, they address the core problems consumers face when purchasing glasses: It can be annoying, boring, costly, and still leave you anxious about whether or not they look good.

Instead, they aim to solve these problems and make buying glasses easy, fun, pleasing, and inexpensive.

Both statements also mention Warby Parker's dedication to providing glasses to people in need around the world.

Vision statement: Make commerce better for everyone, so businesses can focus on what they do best: building and selling their products.

Shopify’s vision statement begins with their overarching vision: to make commerce better for everyone.

Then they promote the reason why they’re driven to remove the hassle and complications of managing an ecommerce website: so businesses can focus on what’s most important to them.

Shopify’s business mission statement and vision are clear: empower businesses.

6. Patagonia

Mission and vision statement: Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.

Patagonia starts with the basis of their success in business: high-quality products .

Then they explain their environmental stance in three points which explain their aim to make their business as environmentally friendly as possible and actively combat the environmental crisis.

Patagonia goes on to say, “a love of wild and beautiful places demands participation in the fight to save them.”

And the business isn’t afraid to put their money where their mouth is. The company donates at least 1% of its sales to hundreds of grassroots environmental groups around the world.

If you’re looking for vision and statement examples that clearly articulate a company’s values and goals, this is one right here.

Mission statement: Offer a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them.

Vision statement: To create a better everyday life for the many people.

IKEA’s mission statement is clear and to the point.

Note the use of the words, “wide range,” “well-designed,” “functional,” and “prices so low.” If you’ve ever been to IKEA you’ll know how well they’ve managed to embody these attributes.

IKEA’s vision statement focuses their mission statement into one singular purpose: “To create a better everyday life for the many people.”

Both statements use inclusive phrasing that solidifies IKEA’s commitment to being accessible to “as many people as possible.”

Mission statement: Spread ideas.

Vision statement: We believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and, ultimately, the world.

TED , which stands for “technology, education, and design,” managed to boil down their entire mission into two simple, yet powerful words: “Spread ideas.”

With such a simple, highly focused mission, it’s easy to see how the TED brand has become a global phenomenon in recent years.

It’s a truly great mission statement that focuses all of their efforts.

“Everything we do – from our Conferences to our TED Talks to the projects sparked by The Audacious Project, from the global TEDx community to the TED-Ed lesson series – is driven by this goal: How can we best spread great ideas?”

In what could be considered their vision statement, TED goes on to explain that they “believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and, ultimately, the world.”

Mission statement: We strive to offer our customers the lowest possible prices, the best available selection, and the utmost convenience.

Vision statement: To be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online.

Amazon ’s mission statement sums up the three things that have made them loved by millions: low prices, a huge selection, and incredible convenience.

Like all great mission statements, it shines a light on the values that bring success.

Amazon’s vision statement brings these elements together into one unified goal: “To be Earth’s most customer-centric company.”

10. Southwest Airlines

Mission statement: The mission of Southwest Airlines is dedication to the highest quality of customer service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and company spirit.

Vision statement: To become the world’s most loved, most flown, and most profitable airline.

Southwest Airlines is all about customer service .

Their mission statement summarizes this dedication to customers and highlights the importance of one-to-one interactions between staff and customers.

So it’s no surprise that Southwest’s vision statement is “to become the world’s most loved, most flown airline.”

However, although they heavily emphasize customer service , they don’t forget to mention the thing which allows the company to exist in the first place: profit.

Google’s mission statement perfectly summarizes what they aim to do.

Take note of the last word: “useful.”

Google understands that it doesn’t matter how well organized or accessible information is if it can’t be readily applied in life.

Their mission statement is brilliant.

But unfortunately, Google doesn’t seem to have a vision statement that clarifies the reasons why they want to organize the world’s information for everyone to use.

Mission statement: Become the world’s number-one destination for fashion-loving 20-somethings.

Asos’ mission statement solidifies their purpose by voicing exactly what they want to achieve.

In what could be considered their vision statement, they go on to say, “We focus on fashion as a force for good, inspiring young people to express their best selves and achieve amazing things. We believe fashion thrives on individuality and should be fun for everyone.”

The addition gets a little vague in places, such as wanting young people to “achieve amazing things” – I mean, don’t we all?

However, it successfully showcases their brand image and their passion for individuality and expression .

Mission statement: To provide the best in cosmetics innovation to women and men around the world with respect for their diversity.

Loreal’s mission statement comprises two key parts.

The first lays out their dedication to providing the best in cosmetics innovation. The second is all about inclusivity.

This is key.

They aim to include people from all over the world, “with respect for their diversity.”

And despite most companies marketing cosmetics solely to women, Loreal is looking to the future as gender stereotypes break down.

This type of sensitivity and awareness will position Loreal for long-term success.

14. Bulletproof

Mission and vision statement: “Help people perform better, think faster, and live better using a proven blend of ancient knowledge and brand new technologies, tempered by research, science, and measured results from our customers, top athletes, and medical professionals.”

Bulletproof has combined their vision and mission in one short paragraph.

It starts with their purpose: “Help people perform better, think faster, and live better.” Then it goes on to explain exactly how they plan to do it: Using ancient knowledge, brand new technologies, and science.

Sure, it’s a little wordy.

But it gets to the heart of why Bulletproof exists and how they plan to make an impact on the world as a business.

As a result, Bulletproof’s mission and vision statement is well-suited to unify everyone in the company and guide their decisions.

15. Honest Tea

Mission statement: Honest Tea seeks to create and promote great-tasting, healthy, organic beverages. We strive to grow our business with the same honesty and integrity we use to craft our recipes, with sustainability and great taste for all.

Honest Tea’s mission statement aims to live up to their brand name.

It starts by explaining what it is they do, and by doing so, they also tell you what they don’t do: chemical-laden, artificially produced beverages.

They’re talking directly to their target market and conferring their key selling proposition: beverages that are great-tasting and healthy.

They go on to showcase their values by using words like honesty, integrity, and sustainability.

And this brand doesn’t just talk the talk – they walk the walk.

Each year, the company publishes a Mission Report in an effort to be transparent about their business practices.

16. Starbucks

Mission statement: To inspire and nurture the human spirit—one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time.

Another short and sweet mission statement that tells a lot about the company.

Starbucks doesn’t use big sentences or fancy words to communicate its goals. It uses clear, simple, and direct language to express what the company wants to be and for whom.  

They aspire to be known for more than just coffee by creating a culture of warmth and exclusivity.

In other words, Starbucks wants to ensure that anyone who comes through its doors feels welcomed and at home.

17. Passionfruit

Mission statement : We strive to create inclusive clothing and accessories that enable you to show your pride all year round while giving back to our community.

The folks at Passionfruit strive to promote the idea that pride is not just a one-day event.

Rather than making their mission statement about trendy clothes for the LBGTQ+ community, they promote the idea that pride is an everyday expression of oneself.

And by doing so, they remind people that the brand is aligned with LBGTQ+ values and supports the community by giving back.

All in all, it’s clear that Passionfruit wants everyone to recognize the truth for the queer community and spread inspiration – we’ll take it.

Done right, mission and vision statements are powerful things.

They can unify an entire organization’s efforts and be the signpost that continually focuses everyone’s efforts on the things that truly matter.

The key to great mission and vision statements is clarity.

Remember, a mission statement is the “ what ” and the “ how ,” and the vision statement is the “ why .”

Plus, it doesn’t matter how large or small your business is, every business can benefit from strong mission and vision statements.

If you’re considering writing a mission or vision statement for your business, start with your core values. Then, consider the wider impact you hope to have on the world through your customers.

What’s your business’s mission or vision statement?

Want to Learn More?

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• 7 Examples of Awesome Social Responsibility Marketing
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• Brand Awareness: 5 Tips for Creating a Powerful Brand Identity

7.1 Clarifying Your Vision, Mission, and Goals

Portions of the material in this section are based on original work by Mark Poepsel and produced with support from the Rebus Community. The original is freely available under the terms of the CC BY 4.0 license at https://press.rebus.community/media-innovation-and-entrepreneurship/.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Clarify the vision statement, mission statement, and goals for your enterprise
• Define and develop a problem-solution narrative that is compelling
• Define and develop a value proposition that is credible and appealing to customers and investors

Entrepreneurs can sometimes be compared to superheroes: They solve problems. They wield great power and responsibility. They’re willing to take on risks the way superheroes are willing to take on villains. They are undaunted in the face of failure. They seek solutions and continuous improvement of their products with their customers in mind so that their solutions go beyond addressing their individual needs. When an entrepreneur succeeds, others say “If only I’d thought of that!”

But thinking isn’t enough. And even doing isn’t enough. Successful entrepreneurs also understand the need to communicate the origin and value of their venture. They not only solve problems, they tell stories of crises averted, foes bested, and painful defeats from which they learned how to start anew. After all, what’s a hero without an origin story and a list of tales, battles lost, and markets won?

In superhero narratives, these origin stories are sacred lore. For an entrepreneur, a problem-solution narrative is like the origin story for their offering. The problem-solution narrative concisely introduces a specific problem that affects many people and presents the good or service as an innovative, unique, and insightful solution. Here are some classic problem-solution narratives in advertising and in corporate origin stories to think about as you consider how to craft a quick, compelling problem-solution narrative.

• A young basketball player lacks muscle mass. The athlete drinks milk and gets stronger, earning the a place on the school team.
• Young people, pictured in silhouette, walk around a city looking bored with life. Then, they turn on their new MP3 players and start dancing in the streets. Their world is set ablaze in color and sound.
• A hardworking ballerina lands the lead in a school performance, only to have it canceled as a result of the 2020 pandemic. Family and friends order lights and stage a rendition on the street.

These may not be the greatest stories ever told. You’re not going to get a National Book Award for a Snickers commercial, but these are memorable narratives about people who have a problem that the product in question can solve.

To stay focused through repeated series of successes and failures, you need more than a problem-solution narrative: You need a vision and, in turn, a mission statement and goals. You learned about these in The Entrepreneurial Perspective , but you should revisit them as you develop your story and refine how to pitch that story to potential investors, customers, and employees. A pitch is a formal presentation in which you ask for something. It is delivered (usually) to potential investors in a startup. More on pitches later in the chapter.

Sara Minkara’s vision statement may be defined as wishing to live in a world where visually impaired people are not discriminated against. Her venture’s mission is to establish a well-functioning nonprofit organization showing people in the United States, the Middle East, and North Africa the humanity and value in those with severely impaired eyesight. Minkara’s vision , imagining the organization’s long-term future, is to make it a global leader in providing services to visually impaired people. Specific goals include hosting events, developing educational programs, organizing awareness campaigns, and, of course, fundraising. Following this example of mission, vision, and goals, let’s break down each concept and consider how they work broadly and apply to your potential venture.

A vision statement , as you saw in The Entrepreneurial Perspective , outlines the venture’s broader purpose, what the entrepreneur sees the venture growing into in the future. Before you can create a focused mission statement and goals answering who you are, what you do, and what you plan to do in the future, you must develop a vision statement that allows you look into the future to answer this question: “What might we become someday if our organization were the best possible version of itself?”

Drafting a vision statement is an exercise in ideation —a purposeful process of opening up one’s mind to new trains of thought that branch out in many directions from a stated purpose or problem—in this case, with the goal of generating new possibilities for goods, services, or processes to make your venture sucessful. A vision statement is more open-ended than a mission statement. For example, Table 7.1 shows Amazon’s vision and mission statements. Notice how they differ.

To create a strong vision statement, look at the broader field in which your organization operates. Be general. State a dream that is not currently attainable but that defines what your collective outcomes would be in a best-case scenario. Crafting a vision statement enables your organization, as a team, to identify key areas for potential growth and key social influences you can have, but it is important to stay focused on changes in your industry or sector as a general rule of thumb and to revisit your vision when those may warrant a change. For example, Netflix started out with the goal of providing optimum value and convenience for customers renting DVDs but as entertainment consumption platforms evolved it needed to adjust, and it has since shifted into streaming content for television. The company’s 2019 vision statement is “Becoming the best global entertainment distribution service.” 3

When crafting a vision statement, write questions beginning with, “How might we…?” or statements starting with, “In a perfect world, our organization would…” Craft a vision statement that hinges on the organization’s service goals and turns it into a lasting social good. (You should not promise to create world peace or give everybody a puppy, but you should look at how businesses operate in your field and dream of doing better strategically and socially.) These steps provide a good starting point:

• State how your organization would function in a dream scenario.
• Connect your organization’s dreams to broader hopes for progress.
• Define how you’re going to make the world a better place in the future through your products and services.

Dreams do not have to be wild to be broadly appealing or influential. The purpose of the vision statement is not to set unattainable goals but to open minds in the organization. If the vision statement has no grounding in reality, it can easily be written off; if it focuses on market share and product development (that is, tangible, mission-oriented things), the point is lost. Imagine your best team doing its best work with future capabilities and affordances made possible by other entrepreneurs and creators like you, and then state clearly what your influence as world changers could be. Again, the goal is not to develop unmanageable expectations or demand constant innovation from employees and contributors who have jobs that sustain day-to-day operations. The purpose is to develop a conversation about what is possible for the enterprise. For smaller startup enterprises (a deli or coffee shop, for example), the vision can be simpler but still focused on a unique experience they want to create for their customers. In other words, it should still be aspirational, with a link to the mission statement. Table 7.2 lists the vision statements of some companies across a variety of industries.

A vision statement does not have to be long to be strong. One well-known vision statement contains only fifteen words: “At IKEA our vision is to create a better everyday life for the many people.” 4 This vision statement focuses on what IKEA hopes to accomplish, and what its employees can aspire to be—people who make everyday life better for others. Note the phrase “the many people.” This is purposeful: IKEA makes mass-marketed products and chooses to align its vision with its targeted consumers: many people. This vision statement is not framed as a political statement; rather, it is an ideal established for the global brand, and it indicates a broad positive outcome. IKEA’s statement is almost pure vision. A vision statement should connect an organization’s day-to-day work to a universal ideal rather than trying to draw a roadmap for implementation.

That being said, alongside its vision, the company follows up with what IKEA calls its “business idea.” It states: “Our business idea is ‘to offer a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them.’” This is something of a value proposition and a mission statement wrapped up in one. A value proposition explains what it is, exactly, that an organization or firm does that people will pay for (or contribute, to in the case of a nonprofit), and it is a central point in any pitch. We learned about value propositions in Identifying Entrepreneurial Opportunity as being integral to identifying opportunities, and you will learn how they figure into your business model in Business Model and Plan . But the discussion in this chapter is about how and why the value proposition needs to be articulated.

An example of a complicated vision statement is Coca-Cola ’s. 5 While they are a very successful company, in the vision and mission statements published on their website, the distinctions between each can be difficult to discern. Figure 7.2 shows a large collection of statements and comments titled “Mission, Vision, & Values” on Coca-Cola’s website that includes sections on workplace culture, market focus, and “working smart.” These concepts, taken together, cover most of what is discussed in this section. Coca-Cola is not committing sins of omission with its “Mission, Vision, & Values” page. If anything, it tries to say too much. Also at issue is how these ideas are stated. For a company with massive global reach and some of the best, most memorable marketing moments, the relatively lifeless nature of its vision stands out.

This is a classic case of telling rather than showing . IKEA and Coca-Cola arguably have a similar vision. They want to make life a little bit better for people in an everyday way. But with this series of statements, Coca-Cola tries to cover all possible types of vision for almost every major relationship or facet of the corporation imaginable. Coca-Cola has a separate mission statement on its website, shown in Figure 7.3 .

While this is shared as a mission statement, it reads like a vision statement. The value proposition is relegated to an afterthought in convoluted corporate-speak. This is all tied into a vague “2020 Vision,” which is not truly a vision statement but appears more like a wrapper for the “Mission, Vision, & Values” content. 6 It is not clear what leadership, employees, business partners, or consumers are supposed to do with this information.

Coca-Cola is one of the world’s most recognizable brands. The company can grow by creating new products and by recapturing market share from competitors. It is essential, if and when Coca-Cola revises these statements, that it succinctly speak to all of those groups with one voice rather than trying to address each independently.

Are You Ready?

Can you help coca-cola rework its “2020 vision”.

Can you revise Coca-Cola’s vision statement so that it more clearly states how the corporation can be a force for good in the world? Read Coca-Cola’s “Mission, Vision, and Values” page then draft a new vision statement that alludes to hopes and potential accomplishments in the context of broad, positive, future outcomes for everyone the corporation comes into contact with.

Crafting a vision statement for an entrepreneurial endeavor is different from redrafting Coca-Cola’s vision statement. A startup is in the process of defining itself, which can make it challenging to establish a far-off vision, but crafting and adhering to a vision statement can remind leaders and employees what they are capable of and what their market is all about, so it is an important step. A good vision statement is sufficiently broad to allow for your organization to move within its marketplace while still aiming to do some good in the world.

In the chapter’s opening vignette, you learned about a young woman seeking to battle social injustice. Minkara ’s mission was self-evident. It followed her experience facing prejudice in society. Other entrepreneurial missions may not be as personal or altruistic, but they can still be a force that drives passionate solution seeking. As we saw with Minkara, entrepreneurs often develop a product or service idea through a difficult or frustrating experience, whether a social injustice or a consumer frustration.

An entrepreneurial mission is a business or nonprofit organization’s reason for being. It is expressed as a self-conceptualization in the context of a marketplace and includes a sense of action. In considering a venture’s mission, relevant questions are: Who are we? What do we make or do? Why do we exist as an enterprise in the first place? Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak , cofounders of Apple , had a mission to put personal computing in the hands of everyday consumers, which meant they had to create simple tools (a graphic user interface, mouse, and so on) in parallel with hardware.

A well-developed sense of mission establishes what an organization is and what it seeks to become. Even nonprofit organizations exist in marketplaces. They have to compete for resources and define themselves by the services they provide. Establishing a clear mission helps a nonprofit organization seek funding. It helps entrepreneurs in the for-profit world explain to investors, to customers, and to employees why their “thing,” whatever it is, is worth doing.

For example, the American Red Cross , one of the oldest and most well-known relief organization in the United States, has a very specific mission statement: “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 Defining an organization’s mission clearly and specifically is essential for success.

A mission statement , as you read in the chapter on Identifying Entrepreneurial Opportunity is a clear expression of an organization’s reason for being that defines its primary long-term goal and often includes an abbreviated plan of action for how to reach that goal. A mission statement is written by answering these questions:

• Who are we?
• What do we make or do?
• Why do we exist as an enterprise?

Developing an effective mission statement and adhering to it puts members of an organization on the same page, and it communicates to potential partners and consumers that your organization knows where it is going. Mission statements can be revised, but it’s best to get it right at the start. A strong mission statement helps stakeholders prioritize the entity’s action steps and should guide decisions.

Link to Learning

This Ted Talk from Simon Sinek is entitled “How Great Leaders Inspire Action.” Sinek is the author of two books: Start with Why and Leaders Eat Last .

When it comes to crafting an effective mission statement, clarity is key: It must be specific. What is left out of a mission statement is often as important as what is kept in. A good mission statement is focused, direct, and honest about the marketplace in question as well as the organization’s capabilities. It strikes the right balance between practicality and hope. For example, Patagonia , a well-known outdoor apparel company, has a compelling mission statement: “Patagonia: Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.”

Check out this article on HubSpot about what makes an effective mission statement and tips on how to write them to learn more.

An inadequate mission statement might say this: “At Toys Inc., we make the best wooden toys money can buy, and our mission is to continue to grow to be a market leader in the classic toy industry.” A better mission statement might say this: “Toys Inc. is a market leader in North American wooden toy manufacturing. It is our mission to lead the global market in wooden puzzle and wooden toy car manufacturing and to serve customers with fresh versions of classic toys.” Both mission statements leave room for growth, but the second one defines more precisely what the organization is and where it is headed in the long term.

A mission statement should refrain from using clichés since these constrain the specific and unique vision of the venture. It should not limit innovation or creativity, and it should reference consumers or clients.

To create a strong mission statement, start by defining what the organization is. Even in a startup, you have a core problem-solution and an idea of what the product—and therefore the brand—will be. Be specific when defining your organization’s reason for being without limiting your avenues for growth. Include or embed the service mission within the broader mission. Again, the mission statement needs to do the following things with a tone of optimism:

• Define who you are.
• Define what you do now and for whom.
• Define what you want to do in the future.

In a startup, the mission may change substantially in the early phases. Mission statements should not be crafted in a way that limits an organization’s ability to pivot—that is, to adjust the value proposition to better achieve product-market fit (see the Launch for Growth to Success for a more in-depth discussion of pivoting). And while they should not be impervious to change, revise the mission statement only when it is necessary and helpful to do so. Companies and organizations usually change their mission statement when they have made a major shift (due to an acquisition, pivot to another market, new growth strategy, etc.) or if their purpose has changed in a major way.

For example, the March of Dimes organization was originally founded to serve people afflicted by polio, but with the success of polio vaccinations, the disease was eradicated in the United States. As a result, the March of Dimes changed its mission to focus on preventing birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality. 8 In another example, Slack , a venture-backed startup that went public in mid-2019, was founded as a way for online game developers to collaborate. The original venture failed (twice), but the founder noticed that his engineers used the tool for rapid collaboration and did not need email or other functions of Microsoft Windows. Slack quickly communicated this change in a simple mission statement: “Slack is where work flows. It’s where the people you need, the information you share, and the tools you use come together to get things done.” 9

One thing should be clear: It is not the purpose of an organization to come up with better mission and vision statements. The purpose of an organization is to provide value to people and try to get paid or supported in doing so. The point of crafting mission and vision statements is to assist you to that end. Essentially, your vision statement is your dream, and your mission statement is your strategy in a real-world marketplace. The vision is a statement about why you matter as an organization with a view of what the organization will become in the future, while the mission is a statement about those who might be served by the venture. Refining these statements will help you clarify your entrepreneurial story.

An organization needs to establish concrete goals for its products and services to remain viable. Goals should be stated in precise terms that are appropriate for the marketplace. For example, a new “white table” Italian restaurant in Chicago needs an initial goal on how it will attract and retain new customers based on its vision and mission, relative to what is already available. A new company’s initial goal is probably not to crush all competition and take over a monopoly position. Instead, it may hope to capture a percentage of a close competitor’s market share or create a new product to reach a niche market. In those instances, goals would be stated as specific outcomes to attract competitors’ customers, or in the case of a niche business (like Spanx ), to define a new category of women’s comfort apparel. Lululemon Athletica , which pioneered customer-centered designs for women’s athletic apparel, recently established new growth goals that were consistent with its mission: “Management is hard set on growing the company to $4 billion in revenue by 2020. This involves growing historically small contributors to the top line, such as men’s, international, and the digital business.” 10

Goals can be tactical in the short term too. They should be reasonable, influenced by a detailed understanding of the marketplace and the competition, and attainable. Nothing stunts growth and clouds the path to achieving your vision more quickly than setting unattainable goals and holding members of an organization to impossible standards. Instead, set SMART goals , which you first were introduced to in The Entrepreneurial Perspective . SMART stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely. The best goals clearly communicate all of these elements, as shown in Figure 7.4 .

To break these down, SMART goals should be:

• Specific: Your goals should be precise rather than overly broad.
• Measurable: You should be able to test, in some quantifiable manner, whether a goal has been met, meaning that there needs to be some method to determine whether the goal has been met.
• Achievable: The goal must be attainable; it cannot be so lofty that it cannot be accomplished. On the other hand, the goal should not be so easy that it can be accomplished quickly or with little effort.
• Relevant: The goal should be well suited for what you want to accomplish; this means that the goal should be relevant to the outcome needed.
• Timely: Each goal needs to have a defined deadline: the time when the goal must be accomplished. What time frame do you have for completing your goals? How does this timeline fit into your overall plan?

Is it a reasonable goal for a specialty soap company to strive to capture 1.5 percent of the global market share two years after incorporating? Let’s deconstruct the goal to assess how SMART it is. It is specific because it establishes a clearly targeted amount (1.5 percent) of a defined market (global specialty soaps). Market share is measurable . We can assume that this is an attainable goal for our imaginary startup. Is it relevant? Capturing market share is always relevant because it translates to near-term earnings and potential for future earnings at the same time. The goal as stated is also timely (within two years). Thus, this is a SMART goal.

Check out the University of Virginia’s detailed exercise on writing SMART goals to learn more. It includes one example of a SMART goal, and, for each letter, it includes an explanation of how the concept is applied. Follow the link to write your own SMART goal and analyze it using a helpful questionnaire. 11

SMART goals are not guarantees of success. As an entrepreneur, you could be wrong about whether a goal is attainable, for example. Or you may fail at measuring outcomes correctly, and your idea may not be as well defined or unique as you thought. Nevertheless, it is much better to set goals with all of these factors in mind than to practice wishful thinking or set abstract goals and hope to reach business benchmarks by luck.

What Can You Do?

Smart goals for social activism.

You can use SMART goal-setting methods to plan a peaceful social demonstration. Mobilizing people to speak out about an issue that they want political leaders to address is one of the most basic tasks social entrepreneurs undertake. Social entrepreneurs who go on to found successful nonprofit organizations often cut their teeth in this kind of base-level activism. But just because the concepts underlying demonstrating are somewhat straightforward—contact media, gather people, march, demonstrate, speak out, tell your story, clearly state your petition for change (also known as a “redress of grievances”), peacefully disperse, and strategize next steps—that does not mean that the process is always done according to SMART tactics. Protest organizers often vary immensely in their organizing skills.

Here is the task: Think of an issue that you want addressed on your campus or in your community. Define it and draft a plan for a peaceful demonstration wherein the demonstration is clearly goal-oriented.

• State the specific issue you want addressed, who you want to address it, and what you want them to do.
• State several ways you might measure the success of your protest. Are you seeking media awareness, legislative change, or specific action regarding an individual victim or perpetrator of a crime? Be sure to clearly state not only reasonable expectations regarding reactions to your demonstration but also measurable outcomes you can communicate to others as you work to gather interest in your cause.
• Note whether your demands target the right leaders and whether what you ask of them is something you can attain.
• Demonstrate clearly how the specific action you plan to take is relevant to the cause at hand. Will you demonstrate in one place? Will you carry out some form of active protest such as a “die-in” at a certain location? 12 Will you practice nonviolent civil disobedience? Clearly explain why your action is relevant to your requests or demands. If you are planning an act of peaceful civil disobedience, are you and everyone you are encouraging to participate aware of the possible consequences, such as arrest? If someone is risking arrest to help demonstrate for an important cause, they are right to demand of protest organizers that the action be relevant and easy for target audiences to understand.
• Is your strategy timely? Are you planning a demonstration with measurable outcomes that will occur according to a timeframe you can track? It is generally ill-advised to petition for general fixes to complex solutions without paying attention to existing legislative and/or communicative cycles.

Note that this is presented as an exercise only. Much more planning goes into successful demonstrations, but this should give you a sense of how SMART goal setting can be useful for social entrepreneurship. It is not only for taking business risks. You can use SMART tactics to peacefully push for important changes. Recognize, obviously, that the risks are quite different for this type of social entrepreneurship than for other types of endeavors.

Thinking like a business entrepreneur again, recognize that SMART goal setting is a tactic for getting things done in the short term. You can line up several attainable goals over a period of several weeks or months, and build your way to a complex, realistic business plan. The Small Business Administration (SBA) business plan template, 13 for example, includes eleven core sections and, as a blank outline, is thirty-five pages long. If you set a SMART goal to complete each section in about a week, in three months, you would have a comprehensive business plan.

• 2 “Amazon Mission and Vision Statement Analysis.” Mission Statement Academy . June 19, 2019. https://mission-statement.com/amazon/
• 3 “Netflix Mission and Vision Statement Analysis.” Mission Statement Academy. July 12, 2019. https://mission-statement.com/netflix/
• 4 “Vision and Business Idea.” IKEA . n.d. https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/this-is-ikea/about-us/vision-and-business-idea-pub9cd02291
• 5 “Mission, Vision, and Values.” The Coca-Cola Company . n.d. http://www.coca-colacompany.com/our-company/mission-vision-values
• 6 “Mission, Vision, and Values.” The Coca-Cola Company . n.d. http://www.coca-colacompany.com/our-company/mission-vision-values
• 7 “Mission and Values.” American Red Cross . n.d. https://www.redcross.org/about-us/who-we-are/mission-and-values.html
• 8 Kelly Medwick. “Why, When and How to Change Your Mission Statement.” Firespring . February 13, 2018. https://blog.firespring.com/why-when-and-how-to-change-your-mission-statement/
• 9 “Slack Integration.” FounderHub. n.d. https://founderhub.io/integrations/slack
• 10 John Ballard. “Lululemon Athletica Pushes Forward With Ambitious Goals for 2020.” The Motley Fool. December 17, 2017. https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/12/10/lululemon-athletica-pushes-forward-with-ambitious.aspx
• 11 “Performance Management Goal Setting.” University of Virginia . n.d. https://hr.virginia.edu/career-development/performance-management-process/performance-management-resources/goals
• 12 Tamar Harris. “Road Safety Advocates to Hold ‘Die-in’ at City Hall.” The Star. March 25, 2018. https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2018/03/25/road-safety-activists-to-hold-die-in-at-city-hall.html
• 13 US Small Business Administration. “US Small Business Administration 8(a) Business Plan.” March 31, 2014. https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/SBA%201010C.pdf

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• Publication date: Jan 16, 2020
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Mission & Vision Statement: Simple Steps, Examples & Templates

Use this template to create a truly inspiring mission and vision statement.

People are drawn to personalities, not faceless brands. When you think of great companies, you probably imagine Apple and Nike. However, behind the brand is a mission you connect with on an emotional level. A mission statement humanizes a brand and makes it attractive to investors, potential employees, and customers.

Your mission and vision statement is the driving force of your organization. It’s the foundation that shapes and influences everything you do, from internal communications to marketing. It’s why your employees show up in the morning.

A vision statement acts as a north star for your organization. It’s a lofty, audacious statement that defines what you stand for and the reason you exist. 

In the famous words of Simon Sinek, “Customers will never love a company until the employees love it first.” Likewise, a mission statement instills a passion for your company’s purpose in employees, leading to increased performance and profitability.

In this guide, we’ll explain how to write the perfect mission statement and share some of the best examples we’ve seen.

What is a business mission statement?

A business mission statement is a concise and memorable way to communicate your business goals to clients, employees, and stakeholders. Mission statements are usually within a paragraph or sentence length. 

Yours answers:

• What your company does for employees
• What your company does for customers
• What your company does for the owners and stakeholders

Include your mission statement as part of a business plan under the executive summary . You could also post your mission statement on your company website for external and internal stakeholders to read.

What is a non-profit mission statement?

A non-profit mission statement communicates your nonprofit’s fundamental purposes. It’s a brief explanation of:

• Why you exist
• Who you serve
• How you serve them

It’s important to note that a mission and vision statement are not the same. The vision statement describes the goals you want to achieve in the future, while the mission statement explains how you plan to achieve the vision.

What are the benefits of mission and vision statements? 

Provides direction.

A mission statement gives your organization a focus target. It provides a strong sense of direction that influences decisions, strategies, and future plans. Everything you do aligns with your overarching goals. As a result, you’re focused on the bigger picture instead of getting caught up in short-term business performance.

Measures success  

A mission statement is the main criterion you use to measure business progress. You know you’re succeeding when your product, services, and actions align with your mission.

Aids recruitment  

When a potential employee is trying to learn about your company, they navigate to the about us section of your organization’s website. The mission statement tells them about your culture, values, and beliefs. Candidates are more likely to gravitate towards your organization when they see your team living your company mission. 

A Gallup research of nearly 50,000 businesses showed that mission-driven leadership encourages employees to:

• View their organizational contributions more broadly
• Have higher productivity
• Stay with their current employer
• Be proactive in creating a safe workplace
• Build connections with customers

Unifies teams

Your organization’s purpose Is essential to employees. A Deloitte survey revealed much higher levels of employee engagement (73%) in a purpose-driven company. A mission statement keeps your employees united, committed, and driven towards a common goal.

Ensures accountability

A public mission statement keeps you accountable for the goals you’ve set out to achieve. Your customers know the claims you’ve made, and they hold you to that standard. The same applies to your in-house teams and partners who feel encouraged to strive for the company goals in all they do. 

Improves internal branding

Internal branding is the process of communicating your mission and vision to your employees. It helps employees understand how they fit into your company’s long-term goals. In addition, employees develop an emotional connection to your company when you have a strong internal brand.

A few ways to improve internal branding include:

• Defining your company mission
• Explaining your core values
• Featuring your core values and mission statement on your company website
• Include internal branding as part of the employee onboarding process to personalize the employee experience from day one
• Using your company’s knowledgebase software   to share updates to your branding
• Publicly recognizing employees who live the company mission
• Making internal branding a priority

8 tips for writing a company mission statement

1. ask questions.

For this step, gather the founders and stakeholders in a room. You may include your business coach or top managers in this session. Your goal is to establish a clear purpose of your mission statement by answering the following questions:

• What do we do?
• Why does it matter?
• Who is our target audience?
• What are our main strengths?
• How does our product or service make a difference?
• What are the most ambitious goals we want to achieve?
• What impact do we want to have on our community and the world at large?

Schedule a meeting or two to answer these questions in detail; review mission statements from other organizations to draw inspiration. 

2. Identify themes from your interviews   

Next, you’ll want to answer these questions:

• What is our key differentiator?
• From what we’ve reviewed, which mission statements resonate with us?
• Which descriptions feel right?
• What common themes emerged?

From the answers, you’ll notice several words, sentences, or phrases that keep coming up. As you develop ideas from these themes, remember the following:

• While your mission statement is lofty and audacious, it should also be attainable. 
• Your mission statement should be clear enough for anyone to understand.
• It should inspire management and employees to live the core values.
• It should encourage buy-in from stakeholders.

3. Create the first draft

Invite employees from public relations, marketing, and the content department to participate in the writing process. 

Use the recurring words or themes from the answers to form the base of the mission statement. Then, ask everyone involved to say what comes to mind based on the theme. Some will sound great; others not so much—but that’s okay!

Write down as many ideas as possible without editing or rewording the ideas. Then, use the ideas you’ve gathered to write a few drafts. 

Remember those mission statements from other companies you liked? Take a second look at the structure of their mission statement to see how you can replicate it in yours.

Pro tip: Looking for a way to save time? Use the mission statement templates we’ve provided in this article to speed up the process.

4. Keep it short

A long mission statement is hard to remember. If nobody remembers the mission statement, then it has no impact. Limit sentences to 10-20 words. Avoid words longer than four syllables or 12 letters. Don’t use more than a one-word string (A, B, and C).

5. Ask for feedback

A mission statement that inspires you isn’t necessarily going to inspire others. Hence, asking for feedback ensures that everyone understands your message. 

Get feedback from employees, customers, and even board members. Questions you want to answer in the feedback include:

• How does the mission statement make you feel?
• What part of the mission statement doesn’t work for you?
• What would you change?
• Is it missing something?

6. Finalize and share

Use the feedback to improve the mission statement. Once you’ve arrived at the final version, update all company materials to reflect the new mission statement. When sharing your mission statement, remember you have two audiences:

• Your customers and partners
• Your employees

7. Employee-facing documents

Living your mission starts with the onboarding process. First, include your mission in the employee handbook and onboarding documents. Next, add the mission statement to your careers page, workplace posters, paycheck stubs, offer letters, and internal communications platform.

Asana’s CEO, Justin Rosenstein , has an interesting process for reinforcing the company’s mission to employees. First, he walks up to an employee and asks what they’re working on. The answer is usually related to a current project. Again, he asks why they’re working on the project, and when they respond, he asks why again. He follows this chain until the answer leads to the company’s mission statement.

At Guru, we use a reward-based system to encourage employees to live the company’s values . We ask employees to nominate colleagues who exemplify the company’s values. CEO Rick Nucci reads out these names during company calls and shares stories of employees who are great examples of value in action.

If you’re using Guru as your internal communication tool , you can share updates to your company mission using announcements. These ensure that everyone in the organization sees it and you can see who read critical information.

8. Customer-facing documents

A few ways to share your mission statement on external-facing documents include:

• Product brochures
• Business cards
• Extranet software with partners and vendors
• Company website
• Company vehicle
• Press releases

Mistakes to avoid when writing a mission statement

✅jargon and buzzwords.

When it comes to writing a mission statement, the best way to have an impact is to make it unique and powerful. Every organization wants to be a leader, but using the term in your mission statement is simply too common and tends to fall flat. 

Here are the most common buzzwords and jargon to avoid:

• The best possible
• World-class
• Maximize investor returns
• Superior customer service
• Outcome focused
• Professionally competent
• Quality assured
• Efficient and effective
• Leader/leading
• Highly valued

‍ ✅Replacing a mission statement with a tagline

Some readers may confuse a tagline with a mission statement. A tagline is usually a few words that describe your organization, but it doesn’t replace your mission statement.

Examples include:

Nike - Just do it

Wendy’s – Where’s the beef?

Coca-Cola – Open Happiness

L’Oréal – Because you’re worth it

You can’t tell much about an organization by reading the tagline, but your mission statement clarifies what makes your company unique.

✅Lacking personality and reading like a fact sheet

Factsheets are great for information. But nobody ever read a factsheet and came away feeling inspired to do more. So, avoid being passive or descriptive with your mission statement. Instead, think of the bigger picture of what guides your company strategy and motivates your employees.

Don’t take yourself too seriously or give in to the trap to sound serious and professional. The best mission statement is infused with humanity and reflects your company’s personality.

The 7 most inspiring mission and vision statement examples for business

When Rick Nucci and Mitch Stewart built Guru, they had one goal in mind: To create a product that gives people the knowledge they needed to do their jobs right inside the tools they already work with. The mission statement perfectly encapsulates the overarching goal of Guru which is to make knowledge easily accessible. We are also guided by these core values listed on our about us page .

2. American Express

There are several core values that American Express promotes in its mission and vision statement: 

• American Express is building a respected service brand that prioritizes customer services and offers unique products and services
• There’s an emphasis on teamwork, so employees are in the best position to help customers

Spotify is giving all musicians a platform to release their music and get paid simultaneously. In addition, they’re removing the constraints of traditional record labels and providing artists with direct access to their fans through Spotify’s global presence.

If you love green energy and care about the environment, then Tesla’s mission and vision statement will resonate with you. Tesla’s goal is perhaps one of the most ambitious you’ll see in this list. They wanted to revolutionize the automobile industry through electric vehicles that are safe to drive without sacrificing performance.

And they’ve done it! Tesla attained its first full year of profit in 2020 and delivered nearly 500,000 electric cars to customers. They’re currently worth over $500 billion, which is more than the nine largest automobile companies combined. 

But it’s not just about money. Tesla identified a real problem and built an entire company to reduce air pollution. 

Where competitors were adamant that fuel-based cars were the only way to guarantee performance, Tesla transitioned the transport sector from polluted engines to eco-friendly energy sources. Everything they’ve achieved goes back to their corporate vision to drive the world’s transition to electric vehicles.

If you’ve watched a Nike commercial, then you’ve seen them living their mission. For Nike, an athlete isn’t just a professional with a sports career. It’s the teenager in the Middle East playing soccer while wearing her hijab. It’s the young, Black kid who loves basketball and dreams of going pro one day. 

Nike believes everyone is an athlete. They promote individualism and inclusion through sports. You don’t need a six-pack or a young body to be an athlete. With the right motivation, anyone can do it.

Interestingly, there’s no mention of apparel or sneakers in their mission statement. It’s clever because it doesn’t limit Nike. Instead, it allows them to expand and evolve with consumer needs.

A few ways that Nike achieves their mission include:

• Designing the Vaporfly Next% shoes helped Kenya runner Eliud Kipchoge become the first human to run 26.2 miles under 2 hours. It remains one of the greatest achievements in sports.
• Fostering an environment where inclusion, respect, and empowerment are practiced daily. For example, Nike recruited several LGBT and Black sports icons to lead the 2020 equality campaign. Famous names include Megan Rapinoe, Serena Williams, and LeBron James.
• Giving back to communities by investing over $81 million in the Made to Play program. As a result, over 100,000 coaches and 15 million kids have benefited from the program.

6. Microsoft

The mission and vision statements show that Microsoft focuses on empowering people and organizations to reach their full potential.

The first component is empowering customers. We see this in the affordable products Microsoft makes to help students unlock their learning potentials with software like OneDrive and Microsoft Office.

The second component is empowering customers. Again, we see this in Microsoft products such as Microsoft 365, Microsoft Power Platform, and Microsoft Azure.

The third component, “on the planet,” shows that Microsoft is a global brand, and everyone who comes in contact with a product can benefit. They live their company mission by fostering an innovative culture that encourages employees and customers to reach their full potential.

According to Asana , the first half of the statement “help humanity thrive” is the mission statement, and the second half, “enabling the world’s teams,” is the vision statement.

The goal of enabling the world’s teams is what drives company goals and product development at Asana. They’ve cracked the code on helping teams of any size manage projects and workflows through user-friendly applications.

Asana is one of the best examples of living a company’s mission. They treat culture as a product, and they’re committed to empowering their employees to thrive. Asana values teamwork, co-creation, and doing things fast. 

Through a distributed workflow where each employee focuses on their core expertise, everyone has the right structure to reach their personal and professional goals.

Mission statement examples for nonprofits

Alzheimer’s association.

There are several elements here to unpack:

• Accelerate global research
• Drive risk reduction and early detection
• Maximize quality care and support
• Find a cure for Alzheimer’s

The Alzheimer’s Association achieves its mission in the following ways:

• All care and support services are focused on providing timely and accurate diagnoses as well as increasing the quality of care for people living with Alzheimer’s
• Collaborate with community-based providers, volunteers, and health systems to increase access to diagnosis and quality care

The Women’s Center

The Women’s Center’s mission statement is comprehensive and direct. They clearly state their desired impact on improving the mental health and well-being of all members. They also show the how through education, counseling, and support.

The Women’s Center achieves its mission and vision in the following ways:

• Therapy and support groups
• Legal and financial advising
• Domestic violence and sexual assault advocacy
• Family, individual, couple, and adolescent counseling
• Awareness, advocacy, and community programs
• Teaching institution for mental health professionals

American Red Cross

The mission statement of the American Red Cross is easy to understand. They aim to alleviate human suffering during emergencies through the support of donors and volunteers.

A few ways the Red Cross achieves its mission include:

• Community of volunteers are ready and prepared to act in an emergency
• People affected by disasters access lifesaving blood products, shelter, and care
• Prioritizes the most urgent cases of distress without regard for race, nationality, or religious beliefs

The Trevor Project

A few ways the Trevor Project achieves its mission include:

• Free and confidential suicide prevention support via chat, phone lifeline, and text
• TrevorSpace, a safe social networking site for LGBTQ youth
• Trevor Research, a program that brings new knowledge and clinical implications to the field of suicidology
• Trevor Advocacy to support policy change at state and federal levels. The goal is to improve the mental health and well-being of young LGTBQ young people through interventions that address the risk factors for suicide.

Streamline your mission and vision statement templates with Guru 

A mission drives the most successful organizations. It’s how your employees and customers know what you believe in or stand for. 

Whether you’re writing your first draft or updating your mission statement, our mission and vision templates give you an easy format to simplify the process.

Make your templates accessible for everyone by storing and managing them on Guru. In addition, you can download a range of mission, vision, and business templates and customize them to fit your organization’s needs.

Frequently asked questions about mission and vision statement

What if my mission statement changes? 

As your organization grows, your objectives and mission can (and should) change. Think of all the places you shared your old statement, from internal resources to external-facing documents. If you’ve documented the placement, it’s easy to make changes at once. Start with a press release to promote your updated mission. Next, send an email to your customer base and stakeholders informing them of the updated mission. Finally, use Guru to share new changes with your employees and partners.

What is the difference between a mission statement and a vision statement?

A mission statement defines the goals of your organization and how you plan to reach those objectives. The vision statement is where you hope to be in the future.

What are the three parts of a mission statement?

The three parts of a mission statement are:

• Your target audience
• Your product or service
• The distinctive quality that sets you apart from competitors

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• Section 1. An Overview of Strategic Planning or "VMOSA" (Vision, Mission, Objectives, Strategies, and Action Plans)

Chapter 8 Sections

• Section 2. Proclaiming Your Dream: Developing Vision and Mission Statements
• Section 3. Creating Objectives
• Section 4. Developing Successful Strategies
• Section 5. Developing an Action Plan
• Section 6. Obtaining Feedback from Constituents: What Changes are Important and Feasible?
• Section 7. Identifying Action Steps in Bringing About Community and System Change
• Main Section

VMOSA (Vision, Mission, Objectives, Strategies, and Action Plans) is a practical planning process used to help community groups define a vision and develop practical ways to enact change. VMOSA helps your organization set and achieve short term goals while keeping sight of your long term vision. Implementing this planning process into your group's efforts supports developing a clear mission, building consensus, and grounding your group's dreams. This section explores how and when to implement VMOSA into your organization's planning process.

What is VMOSA?

One way to make that journey is through strategic planning, the process by which a group defines its own "VMOSA;" that is, its V ision, M ission, O bjectives, S trategies, and A ction Plans. VMOSA is a practical planning process that can be used by any community organization or initiative. This comprehensive planning tool can help your organization by providing a blueprint for moving from dreams to actions to positive outcomes for your community.

In this section, we will give a general overview of the process, and touch briefly on each of the individual parts. In Examples, we'll show you how an initiative to prevent adolescent pregnancy used the VMOSA process effectively. Then, in Tools, we offer you a possible agenda for a planning retreat, should your organization decide to use this process. Finally, the remaining sections in this chapter will walk you through the steps needed to fully develop each portion of the process.

Why should your organization use VMOSA?

Why should your organization use this planning process? There are many good reasons, including all of the following:

• The VMOSA process grounds your dreams. It makes good ideas possible by laying out what needs to happen in order to achieve your vision.
• By creating this process in a group effort (taking care to involve both people affected by the problem and those with the abilities to change it), it allows your organization to build consensus around your focus and the necessary steps your organization should take.
• The process gives you an opportunity to develop your vision and mission together with those in the community who will be affected by what you do.  That means that your work is much more likely to address the community’s real needs and desires, rather than what you think they might be.  It also means community ownership of the vision and mission, putting everyone on the same page and greatly increasing the chances that any effort will be successful.
• VMOSA allows your organization to focus on your short-term goals while keeping sight of your long-term vision and mission.

When should you use VMOSA?

So, when should you use this strategic planning process? Of course, it always makes sense for your organization to have the direction and order it gives you, but there are some times it makes particularly good sense to use this process. These times include:

• When you are starting a new organization.
• When your organization is starting a new initiative or large project, or is going to begin work in a new direction.
• When your group is moving into a new phase of an ongoing effort.
• When you are trying to invigorate an older initiative that has lost its focus or momentum.
• When you’re applying for new funding or to a new funder.  It’s important under these circumstances to clarify your vision and mission so that any funding you seek supports what your organization actually stands for.  Otherwise, you can wind up with strings attached to the money that require you to take a direction not in keeping with your organization’s real purpose or philosophy.

Let's look briefly at each of the individual ingredients important in this process. Then, in the next few sections we'll look at each of these in a more in-depth manner, and explain how to go about developing each step of the planning process.

Vision (the dream)

Your vision communicates what your organization believes are the ideal conditions for your community – how things would look if the issue important to you were perfectly addressed. This utopian dream is generally described by one or more phrases or vision statements, which are brief proclamations that convey the community's dreams for the future. By developing a vision statement, your organization makes the beliefs and governing principles of your organization clear to the greater community (as well as to your own staff, participants, and volunteers).

There are certain characteristics that most vision statements have in common. In general, vision statements should be:

• Understood and shared by members of the community
• Broad enough to encompass a variety of local perspectives
• Inspiring and uplifting to everyone involved in your effort
• Easy to communicate - for example, they should be short enough to fit on a T-shirt

Here are a few vision statements which meet the above criteria:

• Healthy children
• Safe streets, safe neighborhoods
• Every house a home
• Education for all
• Peace on earth

Mission (the what and why)

Developing mission statements are the next step in the action planning process. An organization's mission statement describes what the group is going to do, and why it's going to do that. Mission statements are similar to vision statements, but they're more concrete, and they are definitely more "action-oriented" than vision statements. The mission might refer to a problem, such as an inadequate housing, or a goal, such as providing access to health care for everyone. And, while they don't go into a lot of detail, they start to hint - very broadly - at how your organization might go about fixing the problems it has noted. Some general guiding principles about mission statements are that they are:

• Concise . Although not as short a phrase as a vision statement, a mission statement should still get its point across in one sentence.
• Outcome-oriented . Mission statements explain the overarching outcomes your organization is working to achieve.
• Inclusive . While mission statements do make statements about your group's overarching goals, it's very important that they do so very broadly. Good mission statements are not limiting in the strategies or sectors of the community that may become involved in the project.

The following mission statements are examples that meet the above criteria.

• "To promote child health and development through a comprehensive family and community initiative."
• "To create a thriving African American community through development of jobs, education, housing, and cultural pride.
• "To develop a safe and healthy neighborhood through collaborative planning, community action, and policy advocacy."

While vision and mission statements themselves should be short, it often makes sense for an organization to include its deeply held beliefs or philosophy, which may in fact define both its work and the organization itself. One way to do this without sacrificing the directness of the vision and mission statements is to include guiding principles as an addition to the statements. These can lay out the beliefs of the organization while keeping its vision and mission statements short and to the point.

Objectives (how much of what will be accomplished by when)

Once an organization has developed its mission statement, its next step is to develop the specific objectives that are focused on achieving that mission. Objectives refer to specific measurable results for the initiative's broad goals. An organization's objectives generally lay out how much of what will be accomplished by when. For example, one of several objectives for a community initiative to promote care and caring for older adults might be: "By 2025 (by when), to increase by 20% (how much) those elders reporting that they are in daily contact with someone who cares about them (of what)."

There are three basic types of objectives . They are:

• Behavioral objectives . These objectives look at changing the behaviors of people (what they are doing and saying) and the products (or results) of their behaviors. For example, a neighborhood improvement group might develop an objective around having an increased amount of home repair taking place (the behavior) or of improved housing (the result).
• Community-level outcome objectives . These are related to behavioral outcome objectives, but are more focused more on a community level instead of an individual level. For example, the same group might suggest increasing the percentage of decent affordable housing in the community as a community-level outcome objective.
• Process objectives . These are the objectives that refer to the implementation of activities necessary to achieve other objectives. For example, the group might adopt a comprehensive plan for improving neighborhood housing.

It's important to understand that these different types of objectives aren't mutually exclusive. Most groups will develop objectives in all three categories. Examples of objectives include:

• By December 2030, to increase by 30% parent engagement (i.e., talking, playing, reading) with children under 2 years of age. ( Behavioral objective )
• By 2025, to have made a 40% increase in youth graduating from high school. ( Community -level outcome objective )
• By the year 2026, increase by 30% the percentage of families that own their home. ( Community-level outcome objective )
• By December of this year, implement the volunteer training program for all volunteers. ( Process objective )

Strategies (the how)

The next step in the process of VMOSA is developing your strategies. Strategies explain how the initiative will reach its objectives. Generally, organizations will have a wide variety of strategies that include people from all of the different parts, or sectors, of the community. These strategies range from the very broad, which encompass people and resources from many different parts of the community, to the very specific, which aim at carefully defined areas.

Examples of broad strategies include:

• A child health program might use social marketing to promote adult involvement with children
• An adolescent pregnancy initiative might decide to increase access to contraceptives in the community
• An urban revitalization project might enhance the artistic life of the community by encouraging artists to perform in the area

Five types of specific strategies can help guide most interventions . They are:

• Providing information and enhancing skills (e.g., offer skills training in conflict management)
• Enhancing services and support (e.g., start a mentoring programs for high-risk youth)
• Modify access, barriers, and opportunities (such as offering scholarships to students who would be otherwise unable to attend college)
• Change the consequences of efforts (e.g., provide incentives for community members to volunteer)
• Modify policies (e.g., change business policies to allow parents and guardians and volunteers to spend more time with young children)

Action plan (what change will happen; who will do what by when to make it happen)

Finally, an organization's action plan describes in great detail exactly how strategies will be implemented to accomplish the objectives developed earlier in this process. The plan refers to: a) specific (community and systems) changes to be sought, and b) the specific action steps necessary to bring about changes in all of the relevant sectors, or parts, of the community.

The key aspects of the intervention or (community and systems) changes to be sought are outlined in the action plan. For example, in a program whose mission is to increase youth interest in politics, one of the strategies might be to teach students about the electoral system. Some of the action steps, then, might be to develop age-appropriate materials for students, to hold mock elections for candidates in local schools, and to include some teaching time in the curriculum.

Action steps are developed for each component of the intervention or (community and systems) changes to be sought. These include:

• Action step(s): What will happen
• Person(s) responsible: Who will do what
• Date to be completed: Timing of each action step
• Resources required: Resources and support (both what is needed and what's available )
• Barriers or resistance, and a plan to overcome them!
• Collaborators: Who else should know about this action

Here are two examples of action steps, graphed out so you can easily follow the flow:

Of course, once you have finished designing the strategic plan or "VMOSA" for your organization, you are just beginning in this work. Your action plan will need to be tried and tested and revised, then tried and tested and revised again. You'll need to obtain feedback from community members, and add and subtract elements of your plan based on that feedback.

Everyone has a dream. But the most successful individuals - and community organizations - take that dream and find a way to make it happen. VMOSA helps groups do just that. This strategic planning process helps community groups define their dream, set their goals, define ways to meet those goals, and finally, develop practical ways bring about needed changes.

In this section, you've gained a general understanding of the strategic planning process. If you believe your organization might benefit from using this process, we invite you to move on to the next sections of this chapter, which explain in some depth how to design and develop your own strategic plan.

Online Resources

Concerns Report Handbook: Planning for Community Health

The Free Management Library  presents a thorough guide to strategic and action planning, plus links to online discussion groups.

Imagining Our Dream Community provides guidance for visualizing your organization's ideal community.

Preventing Adolescent Pregnancy: An Action Planning Guide for Community-Based Initiatives

Preventing Adolescent Substance Abuse: An Action Planning Guide for Community-Based Initiatives

Preventing Child Abuse and Neglect: An Action Planning Guide for Community-Based Initiatives

Preventing Youth Violence: An Action Planning Guide for Community-Based Initiatives

Promoting Child Well-Being: An Action Planning Guide for Community-Based Initiatives

Promoting Health for All: Improving Access and Eliminating Disparities in Community Health

Promoting Healthy Living and Preventing Chronic Disease: An Action Planning Guide for Communities

Promoting Urban Neighborhood Development: An Action Planning Guide for Improving Housing, Jobs, Education, Safety and Health

Reducing Risk for Chronic Disease: An Action Planning Guide for Community-Based Initiatives

The Ruckus Society  offers an Action Planning Manual that discusses strategies for nonviolent direct action.

Strategice Plan information page from Implementation Matters.

The Strategic Planning Process outlines 8 steps to developing a customized strategic plan for a coalition.

Work Group Evaluation Handbook

Your Action Planning Guide for Promoting Full Community Participation Among People with Disabilities , a resource for independent living centers and other community-based initiatives, from the KU Research & Training Center on Independent Living and the KU Center for Community Health and Development.

Youth Development: An Action Planning Guide for Community-Based Initiatives

Print Resources

Barry, B. (1982).  Strategic planning workbook for non-profit organizations . St. Paul, MN: Amherst H. Wilder Foundation.

Bryson, J. (1988).  Strategic planning for public and nonprofit organizations: A guide to strengthening and sustaining organizational achievement . San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Coover, V., et al. (1985).  Resource manual for a living revolution: a handbook of skills & tools for social change activists . Philadelphia: New Society Publisher.

Fawcett, S., Paine, A., Francisco, V., Richter, K.., Lewis, R., Williams, E., Harris, K., Winter-Green, K., in collaboration with Bradley, B. & Copple, J. (1992).  Preventing adolescent substance abuse: an action planning guide for community -based initiatives . Lawrence, KS: Work Group on Health Promotion and Community Development, University of Kansas.

Fawcett, S., Schultz, J., Francisco, V., Cyprus, J., Collie, V., Carson, V., & Bremby, R. (2001).  Promoting urban neighborhood development: An action planning guide for improving housing, jobs, education, safety and health, and human development . Lawrence, KS: Work Group on Health Promotion and Community Development.

Halfon, N., Inkelas, M., Rice, T., Sutherland, C., Tullis, E., & Uyeda, K. (2004).  Building State Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems. Volume 6: A Strategic Planning Guide for State-Level Early Childhood Systems-Building Initiatives: From Resources to Results for Young Children and Their Families.  Los Angeles: UCLA Center for Healthier Children, Families, and Communities.

Kansas Health Foundation.  VMOSA: An approach to strategic planning . Wichita, KS: Kansas Health Foundation.

Lord, R. (1989). T he non-profit problem solver: a management guide . New York, NY: Praeger Publishers.

Murray, E., & Richardson, P. (2002).  Fast Forward: Organizational Changes in 100 Days . New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Olenick, J., & Olenick, R. (1991).  A non-profit organization operating manual: planning for survival and growth . New York, NY: Foundation Center.

Stonich, P. J. (1982).  Implementing strategy: making strategy happen . Cambridge: Ballinger Publishing Company.

Unterman, I., & Davis, R. (1984).  Strategic management of not-for-profit organizations . New York, NY: CBS Educational and Professional Publishing.

Watson-Thompson, J., Fawcett, S.B., & Schultz, J. (2008).  Differential effects of strategic planning on community change in two urban neighborhood coalitions . American Journal of Community Psychology, 42, 25-38.

Wolff, T. (1990).  Managing a non-profit organization . New York, NY: Prentice Hall Press.

Wolff, T. (2010). The Power of Collaborative Solutions: Six Principles and Effective Tools for Building Healthy Communities . San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.