Mission Statement Template

Introduction

This template is designed to help you think through and create a few sentences clearly communicating your commitment to EDI and creating an inclusive culture. 

Instructions

There are a couple of steps laid out below. Feel free to skip forward if you’ve already completed any of the steps.

Step 1: Your organisation's mission statement

What is your overall vision for the work you do? This is likely something you’ve spent a lot of time thinking about (and sharing with other people!). It’s helpful to write it down as a starting point to clarifying your commitment to an inclusive culture. 

Keeping it really simple, think about your answers to these questions: 

We are: For [who are your target beneficiaries], who need [what are the substantial pain points you are trying to solve], we provide [what is your offer in one sentence].

Example: We are for paramedics and first responders who need to quickly and accurately assess patients’ allergies, we provide an on the spot testing solution with immediate results.

Step 2: Your north star for your culture and commitment to EDI

North star for your culture 

This should be your ‘north star’ for your culture - the thing that will guide and focus you when it all gets a bit hectic or confusing or you are being pulled in different directions. 

This is about clearly communicating your commitment to EDI and linking it to your overall mission. This is what will make sure it’s central to everything you do and not just an add-on.

This is about taking some time to think through how your goals to create a more inclusive culture link to your overall mission as a startup. 

Struggling to see what that could look like?

Well, here’s an example of a very generic mission statement sharing a commitment to inclusive practice. 

“We believe engineering should be open to everyone, regardless of background or experience. We acknowledge the persistent structural barriers to equality in many areas of UK society, culture and work, and we are committed to playing our part to tackle this inequity.” 

This could be a lot more powerful if it’s more specific.

Think about answering these particular questions when crafting your own mission statement:

Looking at our example above:

We know that the huge diversity of the paramedics, first responders and patients our organisation seeks to help, isn’t reflected in our team. This is something we are committed to changing and here’s the plan. We also recognise the importance of including diverse perspectives at every stage in our development in order to ensure we’re not inadvertently designing anything that doesn’t serve our whole community. Here’s how we plan to continue doing that. 

Step 3: Consider these things for your context

  • What are the specific barriers to inclusion in your context?

  • What can you do to help reduce those barriers?

  • How does creating a more diverse team and inclusive environment further your mission?

It might seem obvious but publicly committing to something is important. Taking the time to write this mission statement and carefully link it back to your particular context shows intention and allows people to learn exactly where you stand. 

Please get in touch with us if you’d like any more support on this topic.