Every association has one — a reason for existence. It is expressed as a mission statement or a statement of purpose. For organizations filing IRS Form 990 annually, the statement is included on page one.

Over time, mission statements tend to accumulate clutter. What started out as the purpose of the organization gets weighed down by inserting priorities, adding values and expanding to include narrative.

The cluttered mission becomes a couple of sentences or paragraphs. Some organizations go even further by adding bulleted clarifications below their mission.

Brief is better

What is the use of a mission statement if it cannot be easily communicated and understood? In today's hectic world, minds wander after hearing or reading a few words or a sentence. The likelihood of appreciating more than two sentences is slim.

Millennials in an organization often describe what they expect of a modern-day mission statement. It needs to grab their attention in a few words. They have said if you cannot tweet it, it is too long.

Until recently, Twitter limited the characters to 140, but now it is 160, providing a few extra words to frame the mission.

Boards are reminded that the IRS recommends the mission can be "clearly articulated." When asked to recite the mission many directors become tongue-tied or confused.

For example, the Florida Medical Association reduced their mission to: "Helping physicians practice medicine." The statement satisfies the need to identify the core customer and its priorities. It is implied that the association provides advocacy and education to help member physicians care for their patients.

Their mission is mounted in bronze plaque outside the main entrance at FMA.

Brand platform

An association needs to identify and distinguish itself from allied organizations or similar groups. The mission statement communicates the difference.

Some mission statements are supplemented by vision and values statements. Some are augmented with a tag line or core customer statement. The combination of statements creates a brand platform. The brand platform is the image communicated to customers (members) through visual and stated images.

There are globally accepted definitions of the elements of the brand platform.

Mission: Identifies the organization, its members and purpose for existence.

Vision: An aspirational statement about the organization and what it may achieve. For example, at the Texas Medical Association: "Improving the health of all Texans."

Values: The association's principles that guide board and staff efforts. For instance, the values of transparency, accountability, diversity and collegiality.

Core customer: A statement identifying who the primary customer is often necessary to avoid mission creep and the many requests to adopt new projects. At the Greater Louisiana Association of Realtors, they emphasize: "The GLAR core customers are the realtors active in the real estate community."

Tagline: A short statement supplementing the mission for use on association collateral, also known as a catch-phrase or slogan. For example, "Intersection of commerce and community," used by a chamber of commerce.

Visibility

Keep the mission in front of the board by including it on agendas or framing it on the conference room wall. Some associations give board members an information card that includes mission and goals. Be sure it is on the website, membership application and published documents.

Some organizations start board meetings with a "mission moment" — a brief reminder of how the mission statement has helped people and organizations improve. After all, the mission is the reason for the board's work.