An Exercise for Nonprofit Leaders on Mission Statements and Vision Statements

Mission Haiku: The Poetry of Mission Statements

Whether you are a grassroots start-up or a generations-old foundation, your mission statement deserves your attention.

Mission statements are the cornerstone of both external communication and internal vision. And because mission statements represent the reduction of a complex vision into a few carefully chosen words, they are similar to Japanese haiku, poems that capture concrete images with meta physical implications in just 17 syllables.

Why Focus on Mission Statements? Your organization’s mission statement deserves to be elegant, precise, and even poetic because the words embody the reason your nonprofit exists.