Mission statements

Thank you, Greg Kandel, for providing such a clear template for us to consider a nonprofit organization's mission statement:

Why do we exist as an organization? For whom? With what desired impacts?

In last week's class, we looked at a number of existing mission statements to see if we could figure out which organization they belonged to. In other words, were the activities of the organizations clearly visible in the words that they had presumably carefully selected? Here are some local examples, and you may recognize them.

"To foster and maintain an organization dedicated to the making of music consonant with the highest aspirations of the musical art, creating performances and providing educational and training programs at the highest level of excellence."

"Provide opportunities for an evolving community of amateur, student and professional players to perform together, to present challenging classical repertoires and to enhance the public's awareness and understanding of music."

"To awaken and nurture musical interest, appreciation and artistic excellence in a friendly and stimulating atmosphere, to offer a high standard of comprehensive music instruction to people of all ages and backgrounds from the local community, and to serve the community by teaching in municipal locations, offering generous tuition assistance, and sponsoring a full schedule of concerts and public performances throughout the year."

"To inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time." (Oops, that's not a nonprofit organization's mission statement; that's the mission that Starbucks promotes on its company website, although we know that, as a for-profit company, its truest mission is to make money for its shareholders. Why didn't they just write that instead?)