Mission First, Org Second

Are you building an organization or making a difference in the world?

It’s not a trick question.

The reality is, as charity leaders we are hopefully doing both, but the order matters.

At our best we are building organizations for the purpose of making a difference in line with our Vision/Mission/Values (or whatever terms you use to define your cause). The key here is that it’s more about the cause than the organization. That’s important.

Under the pressures of daily leadership we tend to spend most of our time thinking about and working on the health, size, and effectiveness of our charity. That’s appropriate because, hopefully, we genuinely believe it is well suited to playing a part in accomplishing our mission. So the effort we put in to operations, fund raising, HR, program, and all of that is intended to accomplish our truest objective.

But quite often we can lose sight of the cause itself.

Particularly when times are hard, which is the reality for most of the charities I work with these days. Leaders are drawn more and more into the urgent and strategic needs of running an institution of whatever size. We need to intentionally remind ourselves that it’s not about the organization, it’s about the cause.

We can’t do it alone. So we need to be connecting, sharing best practices, joining our voices, and being mutually challenged/inspired by others who are working on the same issues in their own ways.

Without this perspective we easily become short term thinkers, overly competitive with our peers, obsessive about our own performance, and vulnerable to our insecurities. We do dumb stuff because we’re more worried about the operations than the outcomes.

I understand that charity leaders face pressures from our bosses or boards to focus more on the organization than the cause. It’s hard to justify advocacy, peer learning, networking, and sharing of best practices when our teams, programs, or cash flow are struggling. The tension is real.

But let me be an encouragement to you: You didn’t get into this work to build an organization; you did it to make the world a better place. You are someone who genuinely cares. And you know that your efforts matter in meaningful ways.

The same is true for your team, board, and donors.

So this summer take some deliberate time to consider whether there are things you are doing that are too focused on your own organization instead of your mission. Remind yourself and all your stakeholders that if your organization disappears but the cause you serve is effectively addressed that is truly a win. Take some time to cheer on some others who are working on the same issues.

I think you’ll find yourself refreshed and refocused.