Some years ago, we developed a brand strategy for a mission-driven nonprofit that provides essential support services to underserved populations. The organization had recently gone through a period of turmoil.

A new executive director had been installed to make it more entrepreneurial. The team was on board and up for change. But the director’s damn-the-torpedoes approach clashed with their on-the-ground concerns about how the proposed changes would affect their community. The culture soon soured, and staff began to jump ship.

I’ve seen a version of this dynamic play out again and again in mission-driven organizations. The problem usually comes down to how the organization defines its values. I know the word “values” tends to elicit a hard eyeroll from those who view them simply as a marketing or PR tool. But the way you write yours can play a pivotal role in your organization’s trajectory.

If you express them clearly and specifically, many benefits will accrue: you’ll reduce turnover because people will know what they're signing up for and how to embody your culture from day one. You’ll strengthen grant applications because you’ll be able to state clearly what you stand for and don’t – and signal your alignment. You’ll also have more powerful stories to tell because you'll be able to measure what matters. And crucially, you’ll help boards and leadership stay accountable to the communities they serve. But if you express your values in a confusing way, the price can be steep. You’ll risk losing funding because funders increasingly want to see your values reflected in your actual behaviour, not just your words on a page. You may even risk reputational damage if staff rebel because leadership isn’t walking the talk, which can affect your ability to woo partners.

If you express your values clearly, many benefits will accrue. If you express them in a confusing way, the price can be steep.

If you don’t want to see your ‘purpose’ inspire eyerolls, you have to make the values that drive it meaningful and measurable. To ensure they do, ask yourself if they tick the following boxes: relate to your communities, instill confidence in your partners, inspire action from your audience, and inform your team.  The trick is to define your values in a way that is meaningful for all your stakeholders. We were able to develop a brand strategy for the nonprofit we worked with by knitting together their differences in a way that felt authentic and realistic to everyone. We helped them see their values had to encompass both humanism and innovation because they embraced both ideas, and because their community needed them to innovate as well. The alignment that results from carefully defining your values makes for more powerful communications, and more powerful communications lead to more interested funders and effective fundraising.

 If you’re wondering where to begin, it helps to think of values less as sweeping, pie-in-the-sky statements (“we commit to innovation”)  than as ones rooted in the actions you know will serve your mission. Which brings me to the dreaded Wishy-Washy Values Trap: the tendency to use vague words or phrases open to misinterpretation and applicable to anyone, which renders them essentially meaningless.  To turn imprecise, sweeping statements into crisp, practical ones that clearly define what success looks like and how you intend to achieve it, start by pulling your head out of the clouds and focusing on specificity, specificity, specificity:

• Instead of “We're innovative”, go with something like this: “We continually push the envelope.”

• Instead of “We're caring”, how about this alternative?  “We create spaces where people feel brave.”

• Instead of “We're sustainable", consider this: “We are building a better tomorrow”.

Another problematic tendency I come across a lot is the impulse to fall back on using jargon, tiresome clichés, or words and phrases that crop up so often in the charitable space, they’ve been drained of all meaning (assuming anyone grasped it in the first place). Think expressions like ‘human-centric,’ ‘empowerment,’ or ‘sustainable impact. ’ That's not to say your values can't be inspired by industry best practices or that using those words is verboten. But become conscious of how you use them, be careful not to overuse them, and make sure the people you’re talking to actually understand what you mean.

 Above all, aim for clarity and precision. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve asked team members to tell me what x or y value means. Some look puzzled, others give one answer, still others another. But if you have trouble explaining your values to yourself or others, how can you rely on them as your organization’s north star? And how do you measure performance against them? One nonprofit we worked with identified “person-centred” as one of its values. The phrase was meant to reflect the idea that the client ultimately directed their own care, which in and of itself is a noble directive. But when we conducted a Voice of Stakeholder Audit to see how well the organization was living up to its values, we found the staff was interpreting the term to mean that serving the client came above all else – a misunderstanding that was causing them to burn out. The differing perceptions lead to predictable ripple effects: staff retention problems and a decline in service delivery quality. 

It helps to think of values less as sweeping, pie-in-the-sky statements than as ones rooted in the actions you know will serve your mission.

Sometimes, when you’re trying to define who you are, it helps to define who you’re not. When you engage in that exercise, try to push beyond the first word that springs to mind, and challenge yourself to think of words with a neutral or positive connotation that you don’t think define you but that your competitors would proudly assign to themselves. If you’re innovative, for instance, and the first word that occurs to you is “boring,” try again. First, avoid negative connotations. Second, precise word choice is critical, and “boring” isn’t the opposite of innovative. (Google it.) A better choice would be ‘traditional’, ‘time-honoured’ or  “classic”. If you see yourself as ‘grassroots’, your outlook probably isn’t going to be ‘institutional’ or ‘top-down’. If you think you’re ‘experimental’, you’re not going to operate ‘by-the-book’ or in a ‘conventional’ way’.  And so on.

Values crafted with clarity and precision affect every decision your organization makes, from board investment decisions to enduring longer meetings to remain truly collaborative to deciding whether you’ll accept or turn down funding from certain donors.  On that last point, author  David C. Baker argues there’s a creeping tendency afoot towards what he calls “values washing”, i.e., making lots of statements about our values to appease the masses without really making the hard decisions that should come with it. In his view, a value isn’t really a value until it forces you to make a really tough decision. To that end, he suggested an interesting way to test the strength of your values: every firm with a values section on its website should detail one really hard decision they’d made for each value statement.  Having meaningful values also means admitting when you fall short. But that signifies strength and builds trust. 

Sometimes when you’re trying to define who you are, it helps to define who you’re not. If you’re innovative, your approach probably isn’t traditional.

When you're willing to sacrifice for your values, stakeholders know they're real. And if leadership doesn’t understand them, or is unwilling to make sacrifices to achieve them, the costs will be far higher than any short-term gain. One way to ensure your values are meaningful and drive your goals forward is to make sure they're measurable. You can do this by:

•  Evaluating employees’ day-to-day conduct: does it reflect your organization’s values?

•  Assessing marketing and communications metrics: Do your content and communication materials reflect your values? If so, do they generate the right reach and conversions?

• Conducting client experience surveys: Do participants describe their experience using words that align with your values?

• Evaluating delivery of client services: Are your values embedded, and not just described, in how those services are delivered?

• Assessing partnership selection: Do you use values as criteria for vendor and partner selection?

• Assessing board governance: Are values part of board evaluation and recruitment? Do board actions align with your stated values?

• Reviewing offers to fund - have you ever declined funding because the funder didn't align with your values?

I will leave you with one caveat: as social consciousness evolves, purpose-driven organizations can face pressure to continue adding new values.  But inflating your values comes with a cost, too: when you value everything, you value nothing. Instead of constantly adding to your list, consider auditing and refining it. If you’re doing it right, your values should create productive friction and make some decisions harder, not easier. That's how you know they're working. ■