Values, Mission And Vision
Download MP3Welcome to the grant writing and funding podcast where it's all about, you guessed it, grant writing and funding made easy so you can increase capacity, grow funding, and advance your nonprofit or freelance mission. Now let's hand it over to your host, grants expert and author Holly Rustic, so you can increase your funding and drive feedback.
Holly Rustick:Hi, changemakers. Welcome to episode 67. We're gonna talk about values, mission, and vision. I'm your host, Holly Rustic, creator of grant writing and funding, and I have a mission to grow capacity, increase funding, and advance mission for grant writers. Alright, guys.
Holly Rustick:So I'm super excited that you are listening today, and we will be talking about a must listen to topic today. Right? But before we begin, I just wanna give a few shout outs. One is that I am loving all the questions and I love that I'm getting, you know, all of these questions in my inbox from you guys about different types of grant writing. Just, you know, you're saying, okay, how do I do this?
Holly Rustick:Or how does this specifically work on all of these different topics? And it's just really cool to see and to hear from the variety of people out there that are really doing amazing things for your communities. So that's right. You are listening and asking questions, and I love to see that we can move forward and really being change agents in the world towards growing capacity, increasing funding, and advancing mission for nonprofits, whether that be for you as an executive director at a nonprofit, or you might be freelance grant writer that is helping, you know, a multitude of nonprofits, or maybe just a few. And this is very, very cool.
Holly Rustick:So please keep the conversation going, please keep sending me emails, and yeah, let's just keep this up. Another thing I am super excited about is that the grant writing and funding changemaker membership is open and we have a growing tribe. So if you would love to get in on the beta price of 27 per month locked in, then please do so before May 1 when the price will go up. And I will also request some feedback that you beta testers are getting amazing extra bonuses. There are some surprises.
Holly Rustick:So you got some goodies in there. Once you join, I will be asking for your mailing address for some bonus goodies. Thank you. Big shout out to my my tribe in there right now. I'm just super excited about you guys, and we already started setting up our meetings and just, you know, looking at how we can really, you know, make this great and also how I can answer your questions and help you.
Holly Rustick:Alright. So the third thing I'm really excited about is Mark Lindbergh. He wrote a review on the iTunes for this podcast. And what he wrote was, listening to this podcast takes me back to my college days when we had to write grants for various research classes we were in. Podcasts probably weren't around twenty years ago, but this is a great resource.
Holly Rustick:Wish we had it then. Thank you so much, Mark. I really appreciate that, great review, and I'm super glad for you and that you are listening and find material beneficial. So if you guys are in iTunes, I would love it if you could please leave me a review. Alright, guys.
Holly Rustick:So let's get into the must listen to topic of the day, and it's all about values, mission, and vision. So rolling right along with our development of our five zero one c three nonprofit organization, full, you know, the last several weeks we've already been going over, how to get a five zero one c three set up. This is an important step in there. Right? And what we've already covered so far is how to identify a clear need for your cause.
Holly Rustick:So no duplication of services. Right? How to figure out what type of nonprofit or entity that you actually want to create because there are many different types. And we've also talked about how to select the most appropriate board members according to their characteristics, skills, and desire. So today, we're talking about mission and vision.
Holly Rustick:Right? And this is important even if you have already established a five zero one c three for many, many years or if you're a freelance grant writer and you really help other nonprofits get set up. Even if you don't yet, you will, believe you me, have people asking to help you get set up. Or if you're just working with nonprofits that are already in existence, this is something you should actually look at every single year. You should evaluate or if you're going through a big change.
Holly Rustick:And I'll talk about that a little bit more in details and show you some examples. But really do this step with your founding board members or with your existing board members as it really, really does does help. And like I said, this is an activity to do annually to see if your mission and vision is still relevant. And why is this so important? Well, a vision and your values, of course, too.
Holly Rustick:Cause values change as well as, you know, time moves on and things happen. Not so much, they don't change as frequently as mission and vision I would say because values are a little bit more core. But, some can kind of manifest or, you know, evolve in some ways. But it really is important. And even when applying for grants, I always ask my clients if the funding source relates to their vision and mission.
Holly Rustick:And if it doesn't, they're kinda like, you know, they're kinda reaching for the stars there. If it doesn't, generally, means that they are just chasing the money. And even if they get a grant, right, they get that grant that they applied for even though it didn't really align with their mission and vision, it will detract them from their overall goal and it will not be beneficial for their nonprofit. So sometimes getting money is actually a burden if you're not getting it for the right purposes. And I've seen this happen quite a bit.
Holly Rustick:So, you know, this is something that you really do wanna your mission and vision isn't just words thrown on, you know, your Instagram post and some like crazy font. It really is important if you do it right. And it really does help a lot. So exactly what are mission and vision statements? Well, your mission statement is what you do today, and your vision statement is basically what you will be doing tomorrow.
Holly Rustick:And why are these so important again? Well for one thing you do need to have them when you file for tax exempt status. They ask you for them. The other reasons are also equally important and these can include that they provide a guide for decision making such as we will only apply to grants that meet our mission. I'm even a part of the Guam Women's Chamber of Commerce and we were getting a lot of solicitations.
Holly Rustick:And it was great to say, okay, how are we vetting these? Like, how do we decide, you know, which ones we're going to award like if we're gonna give any monies out and basically it was like well does it align with our mission and our vision and that was it really did cut out quite a few and it really did have us say oh this is when we love what they're doing but it really doesn't align with our mission and vision. So you know we don't really want to, fund that specific thing because it will take us away from what we're doing. I mean totally that's it's just a clear way, but also when you're applying for grants or different funding opportunities this is a great guide for decision making. And the mission and vision also clarifies your purpose activities, of course.
Holly Rustick:So what you're going to do. They also create camaraderie for a common goal amongst board members, staff, and volunteers. So if you all know what direction that you're operating in today and what direction you're going tomorrow, it really does help create that camaraderie and that sense of belonging. And of course, they also communicate your culture to your community. So very, very important.
Holly Rustick:And to get the best mission and vision, first we need to start with values. Alright. So values are a centerpiece for your nonprofit. Core values serve as a guide for nonprofit when accomplishing a common goal. So values are the beliefs that form the basis for thought, decision, and action.
Holly Rustick:And I'm definitely gonna give you some sample value words here because some people are like, what? And it's actually kind of funny. Just a side note here is I I'm doing this with my students. I teach an English comp class at a university and one of the things I said, okay, because where they're gonna be writing a paper on the major that they're gonna go into and how they're gonna decide that and I was like okay guys like let's first start with what your values are because you could have the best idea like oh I want to go into the medical field or whatever but if it doesn't align with your core values you could spend a lot of money and time chasing something that sounds great, but when it comes down to it, it's just not gonna work. So, yeah, so that's something I'm doing even at that level.
Holly Rustick:So values can really guide so much decision making and it's really deeper than just, okay, some words, Right? It's really what resonates with you. So, here are some sample value words. Innovation, sustainability, commitment, excellence, dependability, reliability, loyalty, that's a big one, consistency, honesty, I love honesty, I love transparency too, creativity, good humor, compassion, optimism. So those are just to kind of get your brain working but you can definitely put in Google like sample value words.
Holly Rustick:You'll have a whole bunch pop up. I can even put some links on the show notes on the website grantwritingandfunding.com. So you guys can, get some ideas because it really does help, you know, just having some ideas so you can kind of go deep and then, you know, have a starting point. Right? So take a few minutes and jot down what your values are for your nonprofit or for your freelance grant writing company.
Holly Rustick:Right? This really helps you drive your forward your company, your nonprofit. It also helps you vet the organizations that you also work with so as a freelance you might say why would I do that as a freelance grant writer well believe me it'll help you like maybe you're getting a lot of different people coming to you but if their projects don't really align with your values it's a good way know to kind of say well maybe I won't take those types of clients or in that sector because I'm just not really passionate about that and to really help define what your niche is. Okay so once you have your values then we can move on to the mission and vision statement. So a mission statement describes what a nonprofit wants to do and here are three main questions you can ask: What do you want your nonprofit to do in the upcoming year or two?
Holly Rustick:For whom do you want to do it? And what is the benefit? So if you can kind of look at those three things and answer those three things, then it's great. And I'm going give you a fill in the blank. So if you have a piece of paper, please use this and this it doesn't have to be your be all end all right, but it can at least give you some starting point once again.
Holly Rustick:So something to kind of like guide you and then you can kind of go deeper. But you could say name of nonprofit does blank for blank to provide blank. I mean, that's as basic as you're gonna get, but it gives you what you want to include in your mission statement. So once again, of nonprofit does blank for blank to provide blank. Alright.
Holly Rustick:So see if and the other thing what you can do is now that you have your values listed and you saw that those are some like pretty cool words you're always gonna find these great words that resonate with you of course because of your values and you can even integrate some of those words into your mission statement and into your vision statement and that will be very powerful for you. So definitely see if you can do that and it will also help communicate your nonprofit's culture in a very clear way. Alright so now the next questions to ask. I know I asked the first questions, you know, you got what do you want to do or what do you want your nonprofit to do in the upcoming year or two? For whom do you want to do it?
Holly Rustick:And what is the benefit? Right? That gives you a good idea where to start. Now that you've written something down or maybe you have an existing mission statement that we're like gonna go over and you're gonna say okay, is it like I had to dig it up for one thing so I don't know what it is. Maybe it's super super long and you have no idea or you had to find it on your website somewhere or maybe you do know it and you're just like okay is this a good one?
Holly Rustick:Is it like does it need to be changed? So the next questions to ask are is your mission statement longer than 20 words? Could it be less than 15 words? Maybe less than 10 words? Does it clearly and simply communicate your message?
Holly Rustick:The best mission statements are clear, memorable, and concise. So here are some examples of course I'm going share some examples with you. Alright so here is an example of a mission statement from charity water. A nonprofit organization bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations. Very clear.
Holly Rustick:It's saying what they look at doing now, who they're doing it for, and what they're doing. Right? So very, very clear. Now another mission statement I'm gonna share is super short, and that's okay because you're totally gonna get it. Okay.
Holly Rustick:I'm just gonna say what it is, and then I want you guys to think about it and try to think of who it is before I tell you. Alright. So the mission statement is just spread ideas. Can you think of who that might be? Alright.
Holly Rustick:I'm gonna tell you. It's TED Talks. Right? And you're, oh, if you didn't, you know, if you didn't already, like, say, oh, okay. I guess who it was.
Holly Rustick:Like, oh, now it makes sense. Right? So TED talks, if you haven't heard of them, I mean, they're all overwrite you. They're talking about different ideas as people sharing their ideas and little twenty minute bites. Right?
Holly Rustick:So super, super clear. We're spreading ideas. So you don't always have to have every single thing in it. If it's super memorable and it really meets your point, you can just have that as well. Alright, and now I'm going get a little personal.
Holly Rustick:So, for my mission statement, I'll go ahead and share it with you too because I can kind of show you an evolution right now you're seeing I just shared two with you that are like, okay, they're published all over the place. And they've been like that for a little while. The evolution can be a little messier. Right? So when grant writing to funding was formerly called WeGO grants, we had our first mission statement that was number one, it was the first one here it is, to help nonprofits and freelance grant writers increase funding for their mission by providing resources and services.
Holly Rustick:And that's fine. I mean, it's very it's clear. It like, who who are we reaching? Nonprofits and freelance grant writers. What we wanna do, we wanna increase funding for their mission.
Holly Rustick:And how are we gonna do that? Well, we're gonna do that by providing resources and services and it was okay but it was kind of long and clunky so I did some work on it a while later and I came up with the second interpretation: provide funding resources and services for nonprofits and freelance grant writers. So I just kind of took out some words. It's basically the exact same thing, but it's a little less clunky. But then I was still like, is that what I'm doing?
Holly Rustick:Am I just providing funding resources and services? Like, it comes kinda like, blah. Right? Like, it you know, do I wanna come at it from what I'm doing or from what the result is that happens? So there's there's different ways to do this you can say what you actually provide or you know like what the tangible feature is or what the benefit will be for who you're serving so I kind of wanted to put my hat on that way so my third interpretation was to help nonprofits and freelance grant writers increase funding and skills.
Holly Rustick:So now I took off, kind of turned it around and said, okay, I could either provide resources and services, I'm still doing that, but what is the benefit? The benefit is to increase funding and skills for them. So I kind of like that better. Was like okay that feels like a little bit better fit because it's not just like oh here's what I'm doing but it's here's what the outcome is and what I really want to see manifest in the world like this is what's really exciting for me. Right?
Holly Rustick:It's to see the benefit and the outcome for nonprofits and freelance grant writers. Okay. But then major change, rebranding. The last several months, if you guys have noticed, we've rebranded everything to be grant writing and funding. And a lot of that, I'll just tell you straight up, is because it is better it's easier for people to find me.
Holly Rustick:People when they're looking for grants, they're not looking for WIGO. And WIGO is, like, a million different company names, like, all over the map that are in different sectors doing different things. And it just didn't really and it was also actually an acronym. It originally stood for writing, editing, grants, and organizational development. And I streamlined a lot of the services.
Holly Rustick:I'm not doing editing any longer. Even writing, it's more just for the grants. Right? Organization development. Yeah.
Holly Rustick:I'm doing that more like with strategic planning though and board training. So it was a little bit I kind of there was a lot of different things going on. And to start off with, you might just grab a name that works just to get going and that's kind of what I did. But now that I've really been able to be in it, this is my fourth year and to really say, okay. Now that things are changing and evolving around me and I really know how I wanna impact the world more and how I wanna communicate with people, and I want people to find me.
Holly Rustick:Right? So grant writing and funding has always been the podcast name and the domain was available and everything and then a year later I was like why don't I just transition into that name like it just feels so much better. So as I did that I totally could have kept the same mission statement but I want to change it because I really want it to, exemplify my branding. Right? So and I'm going I'm sorry.
Holly Rustick:This is like a long side story, but I just thought this might help you if you're in that state of evaluating your mission statement or just being like, oh my gosh, like it takes so long to get something perfect. Well, you can change it. Like, it's easy now, right? You can go in and you can change it. And this is something that you should really do every year, like I said, or when something big happens, like we rebranded, right?
Holly Rustick:So this I'm gonna look at my mission statement and say, okay. Does it also need to be, changed? And what I have now is my mission statement is to create effective systems that simplify the nonprofit process, grow capacity, and increase funding for grant writers. So now I'm really looking at building more systems. I have the online membership.
Holly Rustick:I'm doing more courses. I'm doing more facilitation and I really like the systems approach. Right? Like I'm just not like here's something idea but I'm giving you a roadmap. So I like that but I might even change that and tweak it a little bit more, you know, so that's just how it goes.
Holly Rustick:But I'm just showing you the evolution site that you can see that mission statements and vision are very much alive. They are an evolution and is a journey. As your nonprofit or freelance company evolves so does your mission and vision and sometimes your values. So this should really be reviewed like I said every year or when there is a major change. And other major changes it's not just rebranding but it could be a change in the demographic that you serve as a nonprofit or the the nonprofits that you serve as a grant writer.
Holly Rustick:Maybe you're moving to a new place and it's a new community. Even personal changes like having a baby, getting married, getting divorced, and so forth. You know, you want the values, mission, and vision to be relevant to who you are and to what you do. Alright, so let's go ahead and move on into the vision statement. So now that you know how to really create an effective mission statement let's go ahead and look at vision.
Holly Rustick:So vision differs from mission in that it solves tomorrow's problem. So think three to five years from now or beyond. So a vision statement outlines what a nonprofit wants to do in the future and what they want to be in the future. Here's several questions jot these down. What do we want to do going forward?
Holly Rustick:When do we want to do it? How do we want to do it? What is the issue that our nonprofit wants to address? What would the world look like if this problem was solved? I love that one.
Holly Rustick:Do we have a timeline for when we wanna meet our goals? Does the vision statement provide a guide? Is it easy to remember? Now you don't have to answer all of these questions but do answer some of them and make sure that it really does look at the outcomes, more behavior change. So we did look at Charity Waters mission statement.
Holly Rustick:So I'm just going to reread their mission statement and then I'm going to read their vision. So their mission statement was a nonprofit organization bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations. Their vision statement is very simple. It's just reinvent charity. So you know they're being very innovative in what they're doing and they really want to see things change.
Holly Rustick:And it's funny because I was going to explain what the nonprofit was and everything but I really don't have to because I've told you their mission statement and vision and that's how I want you to think about your nonprofit or your company when you're when you're you don't have to go into a huge elevator pitch all the time. If you can tell me your vision statement and your mission statement I should know what you do. I should have like your definition of your nonprofit right or of your company. So let's go ahead and look at TED Talks again. So remember TED Talks their mission statement was actually very short, spread ideas.
Holly Rustick:Their vision statement, so that was their their spread ideas is their mission statement. Their vision statement, what they wanna do tomorrow is make great ideas accessible and spark conversation. Super easy, and that really does exemplify what they do. You know, you can watch it's accessible because, all these great ideas are accessible because you can watch them anywhere. They're on YouTube.
Holly Rustick:They're all over the place. Right? They're very accessible. You could go in your town. Sometimes they have TED Talks right in their cities, but you can also find them all over the place on the Internet.
Holly Rustick:And it does spark conversations because it's always like, oh, yeah. I was listening to this TED talk and then blah blah blah because then you give your interpretation of what that meant to you. So it's actually really, really cool. So I love those. I'm gonna give you guys one more example, and we're almost done with this, segment today.
Holly Rustick:But I wanna give you an example from CJ at a Boto project. And CJ emailed me several months ago and we've been going back and forth on mission and vision statements. And like I said, it is an evolution. So if you'd like to give some feedback, I'm going to go ahead and put up a post on Fund My Nonprofit group on Facebook. So go ahead and post your mission and vision on there if you wanna get some feedback or just jump on if you can give feedback to others.
Holly Rustick:I think that would be really great. And I'll also throw up a post on Instagram. So grant writing underscore funding on Instagram. I'll go ahead and put a post there if you guys want if you're more on Instagram rather than Facebook. But this is a great and safe way to give some get some valuable information.
Holly Rustick:In any case, CJ's first vision was the following. So I'm gonna go ahead and just share with you his, vision statement. So the first vision statement I got from CJ was, through the innovative reuse of community property, targeted social and economic stimulus and ongoing longitudinal, I can't even say that right, sorry, analysis, project Abodo will revitalize, repopulate and influence inclusionary residential and commercial development in disinvested communities across the country. So it's a mouthful. Like, there's super good a great information in there.
Holly Rustick:It's very detailed, but it's really difficult for a layman like myself who can't even pronounce all of them. Sorry about that, CJ. To really understand what all of it means. Right? I don't know necessarily what these types of analysis are, how to you know what I mean?
Holly Rustick:And all of this, like, it's really interesting, but I was like, okay. If you're gonna commute, like, it's gonna be really, one, hard to remember, too many words. The other thing too is I don't really know because it how can you communicate that with your community necessarily? Like, can we kind of, like, break it down a little bit more? Right?
Holly Rustick:So after going back and forth and streamlining, the new vision for now is the following. And I did ask CJ. I said, hey. Can I share this with, the listeners? And he was like, yeah.
Holly Rustick:For sure. So thank you, CJ. But I just thought it'd be more relevant so you could hear, like, real time people, like, nonprofits and stuff, like, going back and forth on this. So after some back and forth and streamlining the new vision is building communities that work for the many, not the few. And I was like, that's really cool.
Holly Rustick:I like that a lot actually, and that was mostly him. It's, like, totally wordsmithing. It was just me to be like, okay. It's a little bit long. It's a little bit hard to remember.
Holly Rustick:I don't really understand everything. Can you make it a little clearer and what you really wanna do? And that's what he came up with. And I just love that because building communities that work for the many, not the few is just really, really cool because it does show more inclusion. Right?
Holly Rustick:So I love how succinct it is and it shows the ultimate outcome. Right? And I love their project too is to really provide housing accessibility and to build up inner cities. So it's really neat. But remember to make sure that you work with your board of directors and your even your staff, right, at your nonprofit to develop impactful but simple mission and vision statements.
Holly Rustick:And this is all a part of our how to start a nonprofit series but you may be listening like I said and your nonprofit is three years or more older you know what I mean? But it is a great idea to review your mission statement and vision statement annually and to really ask the questions is this still relevant? Because remember the mission and vision statements are alive and they can change and they should like to some point right and just to make sure that they're relevant and that they're simple and clear enough that everyone at your nonprofit can memorize them and understand them because if they can't that is your telltale that they won't communicate well to your community If your own staff has to go Google it then it means okay we're doing something's not right right so we got to make it clear, got to make it more relevant to our values, we have to really look at it and make sure that we understand it so we can communicate it. So in a nutshell there are some great examples and blueprints on how to develop or evaluate your vision mission and vision statement and like I said I'll go ahead and put up a social media post on Instagram at grantwriting funding and on the Fund My Nonprofit Facebook so if you're not a member please jump over there and please share your mission and vision statements to get some feedback and also provide some positive critiques for others to really help you know streamline those.
Holly Rustick:Alright, guys. I'll see you next week as we go over activities and projects. We will be looking at articles of incorporation. So that's gonna be fun. But thank you so much again for listening, and have an amazing of Alright.
Holly Rustick:Bye bye. Do you wanna join the Changemaker Tribe and get courses, downloadable checklists, samples of awarded grants, behind the scenes live q and a with myself and the tribe, and discounts on grant services, be sure to join the change maker membership at www.grantwritingandfunding.com forward /membership.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to this grant writing and funding podcast. Hope you've enjoyed your time. For more questions, email Holly at hollygrantwritingandfunding dot com or visit www.grantwritingandfunding.com.
