A roundup of resources to help define and express your nonprofit’s values
Values are core beliefs that guide a nonprofit’s work. They can help guide decision-making and conflict resolution internally and externally and become a core part of your communications toolkit.
Internally, board and staff members can reference your values when approaching tough questions and situations day-to-day. Externally, a carefully crafted values statement gives supporters, audiences, and other stakeholders an opportunity to connect to your work on a deeper, more personal level.
If it’s been awhile since you’ve taken your organization’s values into consideration, or if you’ve recently completed the process of putting your organization’s values into words, here are four articles to get you up to speed:
- Living out your nonprofit’s values: Your values should not only accurately reflect how, what, and why your organization works on a large scale, but serve as a useful framework for approaching smaller, daily decisions. This helpful post from our friends at Guidestar dives into how internal values can be used to help navigate tough situations and challenges in work life.
- The language of values: After honing in on the strategic ideas your values should incorporate, expressing them with care and attention is the next step. Should they feel inspiring, heartfelt, or powerful? This post should help guide your thinking and make the process of crafting values language a bit smoother.
- Fundraising with values: When it comes to raising money, values can help put your best foot forward and build deeper relationships and trust with donors.
- Big Duck’s values: As a team, we re-examine our values annually to make sure they remain true to how we work with our clients and together. We hope they inspire you.
We hope these articles serve as a helpful starting point for expressing your nonprofit’s values. Need more help? Big Duck can help your organization define, articulate, and integrate your values, too. Just contact us if you’d like to connect.
