Protecting your mission is top of mind for all leaders of mission-driven organizations, but protecting it from what, exactly? There are obvious threats, of course, such as financial insolvency, damaged reputation, and poor quality. However, other threats are often overlooked but are no less deadly.
Here’s a look at them and what you can do to protect your mission from their dangers.
Protecting your mission depends upon having a laser-sharp focus. Making exceptions, even little ones, can dilute your impact little by little.
Protecting Your Mission from Focus Degradation
One of the most deadly threats to any organization is a slowly-dulled focus, one that isn’t noticeable day to day but denigrates your work’s reach and impact over time. We all tend to focus too long on the squeakiest wheels and not the entire machine. It’s hard not to, right? Especially in times of unprecedented needs and demands.
Protecting Your Mission: During the Holidays
Protecting your mission during the holidays starts with protecting your employees.
No matter what type of work your employees do, the holidays always add more stress to their personal and professional lives. This year, let’s add in our global pandemic, restrictions on social gatherings, and legitimate uncertainty about the future. Not great. Making that even worse, of course, is the fact that all the people your employees interact with are going through the same challenges.
MESSAGING ON A MISSION
We’re Launching a Podcast in 2021!
It’s true! In 2021, we’re launching a biweekly podcast! Messaging on a Mission is hosted by Douglas Spencer, Spencer Brenneman President, who will talk to leaders of nonprofits, social enterprises, associations—any organization working to affect positive change.
We’ll learn about their journeys and the messages they’re using to thrive.
MISSION DRIVERS
No Kid Hungry
In this recurring feature of Focal Point, we profile people and organizations on a mission! If you have someone to suggest, let us know!
According to the USDA, more than 11 million children in the United States live in “food insecure” homes—households that don’t have enough food for every family member to lead a healthy life. And that number dates from before the coronavirus pandemic. Today, projections show that 18 million children could face hunger this year.
No Kid Hungry is a national campaign run by Share Our Strength, a nonprofit working to solve problems of hunger and poverty in the United States and around the world. After 25 years of successfully investing in local nonprofits and helping find the best approaches to eradicating poverty and hunger, Share Our Strength launched No Kid Hungry in 2010.
Focal Pointing
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The Ones We’ve Been Waitin For by Charlotte Alter
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Nonprofit Quarterly
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Practical solutions for climate and food security
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Well Said
"When unique voices are united in a common cause, they make history."
—Gloria Steinem
Born this month in 1934, Gloria Steinem is a writer, political activist, and feminist organizer. She was a founder of New York and Ms. magazines and is the author of The Truth Will Set You Free, But First It Will Piss You Off, My Life on the Road, Moving Beyond Words, Revolution from Within, and Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions. She co-founded the National Women’s Political Caucus, the Ms. Foundation for Women, the Free to Be Foundation, and the Women’s Media Center in the United States.
