They spend their time executing a process and think that they exist to execute a process. That may be true, but it is not why they exist.
This is important. The why is why donors donate. The why is why board members volunteer and support you. The why is why your staff works for your organization. Why does your organization exist? To achieve the vision.
Let me explain.
Every nonprofit exists to solve a problem in the environment, a problem that someone cares about. The first step is to identify the problem. Name it. You can often do this in one word: poverty, racism, socialism, the price of healthcare, world hunger, pollution, disappearing species, whatever. It is a public problem, not a private problem. Society cares about it. And society only cares about society’s problems, not about individuals.
Before you even set up your nonprofit, you need to understand that problem. You can explain it more convincingly if you can cite statistics on how bad it is and on the trends. The more specific, the better.
Then you can <strong>state your vision. The vision is an end-state description, in the present tense, of the way the world looks when the problem is solved.
Martin Luther King identified racism as a problem. Then he stated that he could envision a time where “a man is not judged by the color of his skin.” Simple. He named the problem and what the world would look like when the problem is solved. You should note that he did not say how he was going to accomplish that. The how is strategy. He did not say what actions he would take. He stated the problem and put forth a vision of the problem being solved. Thousands followed him.
Then flesh out the vision with practical examples. Make a list of what you will see in the future that tells you that you have reached your decision. Go watch Dr. King’s speech (dang he is good!). He goes into some detail.
You can learn more about vision, strategy, and actions in the Strategic Planning category.