While researching mission statements, I frequently found lengthy paragraphs centered more around goals and objectives than around inspiring people to action. I was able to find some good ones, like the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago, for example, whose mission is, “to cultivate a deeper understanding of the artistic, cultural and political roles of photography in our world today.” This mission statement is much more concise, which makes it stand out. It also serves as a great way to measure goals and objectives, because it provides clear areas of focus, while also providing the call to action of “cultivating a deeper understanding.”
While the WNDR Museum in Chicago does not include a clearly labeled, traditional mission statement on its website, if you can navigate to the “About Us” tab, there are several statements that are mission centric, such as, “Consider WNDR to be a cultural and artistic hub that is constantly changing to fit the needs of the world around it.” In addition, a Google search reveals the following, “WNDR museum is designed to ignite the curiosity that exists within and around each of us.” Effectively, these may serve as wonderful mission statements, because they are succinct, inclusive, interactive and inspiring.
MCA has a rather lengthy mission statement, but they also list a shorter vision statement that reads, “The MCA joins today’s artists and audiences in courageous pursuit of a creative and diverse future.” To tell what gets his attention from organizations seeking funding, Kevin Starr, the CEO of Mulago Foundation, wrote an article entitled The Eight Word Mission Statement. He states a mission statement should include, “A verb, a target population, and an outcome that implies something to measure—and we want it in eight words or less.”
So, MCA’s vision statement includes the verb ‘joins’ and the target audience is “today’s artists and audiences,” which speaks to diversity in presentations and perspectives. They then double down on this in their sought-after outcome, “the ‘courageous pursuit of a creative and diverse future.” Obviously, this is not measurable in the quantifiable sense, however conceptually, it does inspire the forward thinking that leads to change and gives the MCA plenty of latitude to center their goals around creativity and diversity.
The mission statement that stood out the most for me was the Children’s Museum of Phoenix, whose mission is “to engage the minds, muscles and imaginations of children and the grown-ups who care about them.” While it took 16 words, this mission statement is clear, concise, and inspiring. The verb is “engage” and the target audience is “children and the grown-ups who care about them.” This is simple, straightforward and appealing to practically everyone. It also acts as a call to action and it provides jumping-off points for goals and objectives centered around the building blocks of childhood development, “minds, muscles, and imaginations” via the museum’s kinesthetic learning experiences. The Museum’s engagement is then easily measurable on the economic side via admissions, visit frequency, retail and concession revenue, etc., and also on the display side via a variety of measuring techniques, including QR code scanning and heat mapping.
SOURCES:
https://www.mocp.org/about/history-and-mission.php
https://www.wndrmuseum.com/chicago/about
https://mcachicago.org/About/Mission
https://ssir.org/articles/entry/the_eight_word_mission_statement#
https://childrensmuseumofphoenix.org/about-the-museum/mission-history/