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A Message from the Chief Executive Officer
Most coaches say they teach the fundamentals. But in my experience, few actually do. Similarly, almost all
companies claim they have clear goals for serving their customers and delivering results. Unfortunately, that’s not true, either.
Philanthropy often leaves the same gap between rhetoric and reality. For example, foundation mission statements can be so vague and aspirational that they provide little guidance to the board and staff. In other cases, the foundation may have a clear mission statement, but it can get overlooked during the evaluation of funding opportunities.
For its first 11 years, JSF operated without a mission statement. In 2002, then-CEO Malcolm Macleod and a skilled consultant led the Foundation on an extensive process to create one.
Once they did, “We now had a guide,” Malcolm shared in his recent book The Practice of Philanthropy. “Mission... Gave us a framework to debate the relative merits of competing ideas.”
In subsequent years, Malcolm and the board revised JSF’s mission statement three times, based on listening to and learning about the needs of the people we aspire to serve.
Last year, we made a fourth revision. After a year of thoughtful discussions and a board retreat, the board revised our mission statement from “Our foundation exists to serve disadvantaged people by assisting them to obtain education and employment” to “Our mission is to help people prepare for and obtain a college degree.” The difference may not seem obvious, but it is significant.
The educational needs in the U.S. and Canada are endless, but our resources are not. To make the most of our limited funding requires us to maintain a sharp focus. Our new mission statement represents our attempt to sharpen that focus. The new version better guides us toward the answer to the most important question mission-oriented leaders can ask: “To what end?” We established that obtaining a college degree is the primary end we seek for the students we support. Although employment is an honorable end, it’s not our end.
We understand college degrees can be expensive and may not be the right path for everyone. But the evidence is overwhelming that people with a college degree have greater opportunities in life. In addition to achieving higher lifetime earnings, they experience more employment stability and a higher degree of health and well-being. As a result, they have a greater opportunity to lead a life of self-sufficiency, dignity, meaning, and community contribution. Those are the ends we seek.
We understand JSF is not the answer to all the issues facing our communities. But if we steward our work well, we can be a meaningful part of the answer as we stay mission-driven.
Robert A. Krause
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