Congrats on the new site! I’m excited to check it out!
I feel compelled to offer feedback on the new mission statement — if only to improve communication and comprehension.
“Our mission is to help others as much as we can with the resources available to us.”
It’s a short and simple sentence, but I believe it would be unclear to many unfamiliar with Open Phil or EA.
The statement doesn’t say what you do to “help” others, which could be interpreted as anything from grants for college to lobbying on healthcare to a smoother commute.
Similarly, “resources” is only contextualized by “available to us.” This doesn’t really give the reader any information.
This is probably nitpicky, but “as much as we can” changes the rhythm of the sentence (up and down), and takes up too much space for its purpose.
The impact (or results) of your work is also missing from the statement I.e. “We help X do Y to achieve Z.”
Ideally, you should be able to put your mission statement on your homepage and a new visitor would know exactly what you do and why they should lean in to learn more. I don’t think this statement does that.
Here are some ideas:
“Our mission is to leverage accessible resources to improve the lives of others.”
“We leverage existing resources to improve the lives of others.”
“We deploy available funds and useful resources toward bettering people’s lives.”
“Our mission is to use radical empathy and innovative ideas to better others’ lives.”
“We combine data, resources, and empathy to improve the lives of others.”
“We help improve the lives of others through data, resources, and empathy.”
“Our mission is to direct more attention and resources to better others’ lives.”
These were quick sketches, so I’m not advocating for any one in particular—and it’s not my intention to take liberties with any of the crucial information in your mission statement. (For example, you may have intentionally put “others” instead of “people” as a way to encompass all living beings.) The samples are more for springboarding ideas that could help you develop and refine the statement a little further.
To piggyback on this, “with the resources available to us” is tautologically true. The mission statement would have identical meaning if it was simply “Our mission is to help others as much as we can.”
Taking a step back, I don’t really like the concept of mission statements in general. I think they almost always communicate close to zero information, and organizations shouldn’t have them.
Congrats on the new site! I’m excited to check it out!
I feel compelled to offer feedback on the new mission statement — if only to improve communication and comprehension.
It’s a short and simple sentence, but I believe it would be unclear to many unfamiliar with Open Phil or EA.
The statement doesn’t say what you do to “help” others, which could be interpreted as anything from grants for college to lobbying on healthcare to a smoother commute.
Similarly, “resources” is only contextualized by “available to us.” This doesn’t really give the reader any information.
This is probably nitpicky, but “as much as we can” changes the rhythm of the sentence (up and down), and takes up too much space for its purpose.
The impact (or results) of your work is also missing from the statement I.e. “We help X do Y to achieve Z.”
Ideally, you should be able to put your mission statement on your homepage and a new visitor would know exactly what you do and why they should lean in to learn more. I don’t think this statement does that.
Here are some ideas:
“Our mission is to leverage accessible resources to improve the lives of others.”
“We leverage existing resources to improve the lives of others.”
“We deploy available funds and useful resources toward bettering people’s lives.”
“Our mission is to use radical empathy and innovative ideas to better others’ lives.”
“We combine data, resources, and empathy to improve the lives of others.”
“We help improve the lives of others through data, resources, and empathy.”
“Our mission is to direct more attention and resources to better others’ lives.”
These were quick sketches, so I’m not advocating for any one in particular—and it’s not my intention to take liberties with any of the crucial information in your mission statement. (For example, you may have intentionally put “others” instead of “people” as a way to encompass all living beings.) The samples are more for springboarding ideas that could help you develop and refine the statement a little further.
To piggyback on this, “with the resources available to us” is tautologically true. The mission statement would have identical meaning if it was simply “Our mission is to help others as much as we can.”
Taking a step back, I don’t really like the concept of mission statements in general. I think they almost always communicate close to zero information, and organizations shouldn’t have them.