Obama's Movement
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Obama's Movement

Proposals for Post-election Activities

Recommendations to the National Office

As is the case with all organizations, the Obama-inspired movement will need a brief mission statement that can be used repeatedly and consistently to inform others about, and help keep members aware of, our purpose. When we evaluate our efforts, we’ll need to ask if are making progress toward achieving our mission. When we consider a new project, we’ll need to ask if it will help us achieve our mission.

When I googled “mission statements purpose,” the top result was “Frequently Asked Question: What’s in a mission statement?" from the Alliance for Nonprofit Management. They recommend that the mission statement include a statement of purpose, a description of your activities, and an affirmation of your basic values.

With this in mind, I looked for some language from Barack that might suffice as a mission statement.

On change.gov, under “Agenda,” the transition team has a long list of various goals, without any mission statement. But the top of their homepage declares, “Today we begin in earnest the work of making sure that the world we leave our children is just a little bit better than the one we inhabit today.” This statement may be a mission statement, but it is hardly inspiring. At least they could delete “just a little bit.” There’s nothing wrong with being practical and realistic, but this formulation strikes me as far too modest.

So I looked at the Democratic Party platform, which Barack had a major role in shaping. There I found, “We pledge a return to core moral principles like stewardship, service to others, personal responsibility, shared sacrifice and a fair shot for all (emphasis added). ” Not bad.

Barack’s announcement speech resonates with me more strongly, however. That speech includes the following (emphases added):

Next I looked at his victory speech at the Convention, which includes:

So, drawing from the platform and the announcement, I suggest the following for our mission statement:

To transform the United States of America by:

• Reclaiming the meaning of citizenship.
• Mobilizing millions of voices to call for meaningful change.
• And restoring our sense of common purpose, based on these core moral principles:
  • Stewardship.
  • Service to others.
  • Personal responsibility.
  • Shared sacrifice.
  • And a fair shot for all.

Once a mission statement is adopted, the governing board should adopt subsidiary goals that would serve as means to achieving that mission. These goals should describe the nature of the organization that is envisioned and establish priorities.

COMMENT:
Elle Koss has suggested substituting "generosity" for "shared sacrifice."

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