Define Your Impact Mission, Vision & Values

[Alicia_Schmidt]

Define Your Impact Mission, Vision & Values

Your North Star

📍 Where you are

Your leadership team is on board. Now you need to define what giving back actually means for your company — not in vague terms, but in one clear sentence that tells your employees, customers, and community exactly what you stand for and why. This is the statement everything else will build on.

Before you plan a single volunteer day or send a single donation, you need to know what you stand for and why. Your mission is what you say yes (and no) to. It keeps the program focused when you’re busy.

Don’t skip this because it feels soft. Companies that skip mission and values end up with scattered, low-participation programs that fizzle out. The mission is the difference between doing a food drive in November and having a genuine giving culture.

3 Things to Define

What	Definition	Example
Vision	The future state you’re working toward. Aspirational, long-term. Answers: what does the world look like if we succeed?	“A world where every child has access to quality education.”
Mission	What you actually do. Specific and actionable. Answers: what are we doing, for whom, and how?	“We donate 1% of employee time to digital literacy nonprofits in our city.”
Values	The principles that guide your decisions. Answers: what do we believe, and how does that shape our program?	“Equity, local community first, skills-based impact.”

What Good Looks Like — Real Company Examples

These companies have built specific, compelling social impact missions. Use them as inspiration.

Element	Prompt	Real Example
State your purpose	What social problem do you aim to address?	“Our purpose is to enrich the food experience for all and create a healthier, more sustainable, and equitable world.” — Toast.org
Define the impact	What specific change do you want to make?	“Checkr is committed to building a fairer future by designing technology to create opportunities for all.” — Checkr
Identify beneficiaries	Who will your efforts benefit?	“We invest in organizations committed to improving economic, financial and social inclusion of immigrants and their families.” — Remitly
Make it inspirational	Will this motivate your team and stakeholders?	“We believe business is the greatest platform for change.” — Salesforce
Align with core values	Does this reflect what your company already stands for?	“We’re on a mission to build a safely connected world where everyone can belong and thrive.” — Okta for Good

Questions to Ask Your Team First

• What causes are our founders and employees most passionate about?
• What issues are most relevant to the local community where we operate?
• What communities do we serve through our product or service?
• What skills do we have that a nonprofit couldn’t easily buy?
• Is there an informal giving culture — a cause people already rally around?
• What does ‘impact’ mean to us — local or global, broad or focused?

💡 PRO TIP

Startup shortcut: Fewer than 15 people? Bring these questions to a team lunch. 15–50 people? A Google Form sent a week before a short workshop works well.

🤖 AI DRAFT PROMPT

Draft our impact mission, vision & values

Fill in the brackets with your company’s details, then paste into your preferred AI assistant to generate a draft mission statement and supporting values ready for team review.

Copy this prompt into your preferred AI assistant (like Claude or Gemini), then fill in the [brackets]:

You are helping a small business define its social impact mission, vision, and values for a Pledge 1% commitment.

Our company: [name, industry, what our product/service does, number of employees].
Our company's core values are: [list 2-4 existing company values].
The causes our team cares most about: [list 2-3 cause areas from an employee survey or discussion].
The communities we serve through our work: [e.g., small businesses, healthcare workers, students].
The pledge type(s) we are starting with: [e.g., time and profit].

Please draft:
1. A one-sentence impact vision
2. A two-sentence impact mission using the Pledge 1% format
3. Three impact values with a one-line description of each

Tone: genuine, specific, not corporate-sounding. Avoid buzzwords like 'synergy' or 'ecosystem'.

How to Finalise Your Mission

• Draft it yourself first. Use the formula above. Workshop a draft, not a blank page.
• Share it with your exec sponsor before widening the circle.
• Run a short team session to gather feedback and vote on cause areas.
• Write the final version and post it somewhere visible — wiki, careers page, all-hands.
• Use it as a filter. Does every new initiative fit your mission? If not, say no.

📣 COMMUNICATING YOUR PLEDGE

Your impact mission statement IS your communications foundation. Every external message — LinkedIn, press release, careers page, investor materials — should echo this statement. Once finalised, add it to: (1) your website About or Careers page, (2) your Pledge 1% member profile, (3) your LinkedIn company page bio, and (4) your employee handbook.

3 Quick Actions

• Survey or workshop your team on cause areas and values. Decide: focused cause area or employee-choice? (Tip: Start focused.)
• Draft your impact mission statement (use the AI prompt above) and get executive sponsor sign-off on the draft.
• Once it’s approved, post it somewhere the whole team and your customers can see it — intranet, Slack, website, LinkedIn, press release.

You have your mission. Now you need a nonprofit partner to bring it to life.

Next: Find the Right Nonprofit/NGO Partners →