Savoir faire: How to easily promote your society’s mission statement — front and centre

There’s a new sign on the door at the Niagara Peninsula Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society, and it tells everyone what they may not know or have forgotten.

The sign features the three key areas of the branch’s mission statement:

Education, Preservation, Advocacy.

It’s a terrific idea and it’s pretty simple to do.

Front door at the Ontario Genealogical Society’s Niagara Peninsula Branch features the branch’s mission: Education, Preservation, Advocacy. Photo credit. Steve Fulton UE, president, Niagara Peninsula Branch.

By featuring the main focus areas of the branch’s raison d’être on the front door, the branch constantly reminds visitors, members, and even board members of the branch’s goals. The sign promotes why the branch exists and what it contributes to the community.

The sign helps keep the branch focused on its goals and ensures everyone is working from the same playbook.

Niagara Peninsula Branch president Steve Fulton said, “We balance all that we do through those three words. If we plan something, and it doesn’t match one of the three words, then we do not do it.”

Letterhead
Other societies may draw inspiration from this sign. In addition to promoting the mission statement on the door, societies should think about the value of adding it to their letterhead, like a tag line.

Genealogical societies should never assume people know what they do.

Email signatures
If the budget cannot support the purchase of a new sign for the door — or the society doesn’t have a door — and they still have stacks of paid-for, printed letterhead in the back room, there is still plenty that can be done.

A zero-cost initiative is to add an abbreviated mission statement at the end of email signatures. Whenever any board members, librarians, support staff, or other volunteers send an email or reply to someone from outside the organization, they can easily and automatically include those two or three words or a very short statement/tag line after their name, title, and society name. (To learn how to do this, search signature in your email program, such as Outlook, Hotmail and Gmail.)

Website
Most societies post their mission statement or a version of it somewhere on their website. If it is not front and centre and quick to read, societies should consider shortening it to something snappy, and feature it on the home page.

Facebook and Twitter
Social media platforms are also excellent places for societies to promote what they do. They can easily post a three-word (or more) mission statement or tag line at the beginning of the About section. Another idea is to include the mission statement on the Facebook cover photo as the Niagara Peninsula Branch has done.

The cover photo on the Niagara Peninsula Branch’s Facebook Group features the focus areas of its mission.

To be consistent in all messaging, societies should review their Twitter profile to make sure the mission statement — again, in only a few words — appears in it.

Inspiration
For inspiration of what is possible, genealogical societies should look to organizations outside the genealogy community. The ALS Society of Canada is an example of how to feature a shortened mission statement on a website banner.

The ALS Society of Canada’s mission is clearly featured on its website banner.

Savoir faire
Kudos to the Niagara Peninsula Branch for producing a simple, doable initiative that will likely inspire others to do the same.Theirs is an idea that can help keep the board and members focused on society goals, while promoting what they do to outsiders, such as political and community leaders and potential supporters.