By Jonah Halper, ALTRUICITY
When you are seeking a long-term relationship with someone in your personal life, it is important to know what your long-range goals look like. Kids? City or country living? Want to be a stay at home mom or dad? If your priorities and goals don’t align, then you probably aren’t looking at a sustainable relationship.
This kind of compatibility exists in philanthropy too. While mission is about what you DO, Vision is about what you want to accomplish; the growth and direction of your mission. You may be in the business of bringing clean drinking water to indigenous people, but what vision do you have for this cause? Are you trying to bring clean water to everyone? A region? How do you define success in 5 or 10 years down the road? This is your vision. This is your guiding light.
In philanthropy, you are also seeking a long-term relationship; someone you can call a partner and help you realize your vision; built on common values and vision for the cause. If you share this compatibility of mission and vision, it can translate into years of financial support.
DATING TIP
CREATE YOUR VISION STATEMENT
This is the fun part. Determining the “how” of making your mission happen. This is your opportunity to get the prospect excited about where you are headed with the cause. Dr. James R. Lucas, a recognized authority on leadership and CEO of Luman International, states [SOURCE] that the vision statement needs enough detail that you can be held accountable. In other words, are we living up to its standards?
Here are a few great examples:
The Nature Conservancy: Our vision is to leave a sustainable world for future generations.
Teach for America: One day, all children in this nation will have the opportunity to attain an excellent education.
charity: water believes that we can end the water crisis in our lifetime by ensuring that every person on the planet has access to life’s most basic need — clean drinking water.