Our mission is to help the women, the children, the families of Siete de Abril.  That is it, that is why I am here.  To me, that is all the motivation and purpose behind our work that I need.  I do not think any mission statement can be more powerful, more motivating than the way I already inherently feel.  However, that is not to say that I do not see the importance in a mission statement, for it is our front-line argument and purpose as to why others should support our cause.  And how to adequately express our mission to others turned out to be quite difficult, in fact, I may argue, an impossible task.  I say impossible because when I think about why I am working with La Ceiba my initial intuition is because I possess no doubt of its importance, need and potential.  Although undoubtedly cliché, there are no words that can live up to the mission I see for La Ceiba.  That is why I believe we struggled with finding these words.  Yet, in the end, were able to agree on two sentences that came as close as possible.

            “La Ceiba envisions a world in which every individual can realize their potential   through hard work.  As a microfinance program that provides financial, social and educational 

Underworld: Evolution move

support, La Ceiba empowers struggling Hondurans to overcome the inequalities that have denied them this right.”

The third word proves key—envisions.  We realize that the world today does not allow every individual to realize their potential through hard work. 

Yet, the development of such a word is our vision, our hope and what we will fight for.  How will we fight for this world?  Through microfinance programs.  Not microfinance programs that just offer financial opportunities; instead, microfinance programs that allow people to invest in their future, whether that is through a microenterprise, education or some other means.  Our microfinance programs will be holistic and client-driven.  In doing so, we will empower struggling Hondurans to overcome their own hardships stemmed from inequalities that have prevented them from reaching their potential.  In other words, we will offer a path that allows them to fight against the constraints that inequality has frequently tied them down with.  As we work with our clients, and as more and more constraints are uplifted, they can redeem that right that everyone should have—that right to realize one’s own potential.           

The ball is rolling…

Mission Development

Dodge City on dvd

• We Were Soldiers on dvd

As you can tell from a recent post by Erin, we’ve been dedicating the past couple classes to defining who we are, what we’re trying to accomplish and by what means. Yesterday we initiated round two of mission statement brainstorming, writing up possible statements and slogans on the white board. A lot of good keen observations are in the works—I particularly like the concept of “buttressing” our clients, as Dr. Humphrey put it. I can tell we’re honing in on our identity. My own focus, coming from a communication background, has been less on what we say and more on how we say it.

What is the purpose of stating our purpose? I asked myself this as we brainstormed. From a business perspective, at least two answers come to mind: to inform and persuade our donors, and to keep our actions squarely on track. With that idea in mind I subdivided our mission into three levels in a systematic sequence that progresses from broad and grandiose to nuanced and technical:

1. Vision — This statement defines the end goal of our mission. Here we define the overarching problem we perceive and describe a world that has benefited from our mission. For example…we see a world in poverty; we wish to subdue that poverty; we envision a world in which people, who were once poor, have had a chance to pull themselves up into comfort.
2. Mission — Here we define the means to which we hope to attain our end goal as stated in our vision. That means will be based on our unique specialization, which in our case would be microlending and anything else we deem critical to our methods (e.g. whether we are holistic).
3. Objectives — Finally we outline our benchmarks of success. Essentially our objectives detail the approach to our mission, which may include granular and quantified goals.

From a fundraising perspective, these levels create a simple road map for communication. We open up with our vision statement, where our donors will decide whether or not they agree in principle with our end goal. If they do not, they will walk away and there is nothing we can or should do to persuade them otherwise. If they do, we may proceed to explain our mission statement, which explains the means to which we pursue the end goal of our stated vision. If the donors agree with those means, we may outline in more detail how we plan to carry out our mission. For most donors, a donation can be considered a social investment. All three levels of our identity—goals, means, and methods—are crucial details that all donors would want to understand to ensure that they and we are on equal moral grounds.

As the axis of our wheel—the foundation of our identity, our incorporation, our fundraising, our progress and our success—the mission statement is perhaps the most urgent item on our agenda.

Wild at Heart

Marketing

I’ve merged my department (IT) with Marketing and Communication. Recently I have been outlining an exciting web-marketing strategy for the blog, La Ceiba, and, possibly, the Two Dollar Challenge, which will a critical fundraiser for the capital base of La Ceiba. I won’t delve into that strategy now, but I hope to articulate them next week. Time is of the essence, and powerful word-of-mouth publicity requires time to mature.

Here are most of the statements which we came up with during our meeting.  Keep in mind what we’ve read in the social entrepreneur book, this is a statement that should summarize the -why- of our organization.  Why are you putting in your time every week, what brings you to the 8am class and takes your time on the weekends, what is our goal?  Now try to fit that on a t-shirt.  Please give your input of your favorite parts by commenting on this entry.

~Erin

La Ceiba aims to facilitate long term individual and economic growth in its Honduran partner-communities through holistic and client-driven program that provides access to essential financial and social resources, empowering the impoverished to realize their innate potential and capitalize on unique opportunities for advancement.

By partnering with Honduran communities, La Ceiba will offer a feasible, hopeful and client-driven escape from poverty.  In particular, micofinance loans will allow individuals to increase their incomes and hence gain access to greater purchasing power in society, power that is ultimately needed in order to acquire a better standard of living.

The Unearthly hd

The Breakfast Club ipod

La Cieba is partnering with Honduran communities by

• Martin movie

primarily granting micro finance loans to empower individuals to

increase their standard of living.

To create a partnership with Honduran communities in which we increase income in order to allow themselves to increase their standard of living and over all well being.

La Ceiba’s mission is to establish partnerships with struggling Honduran communities, creating opportunities for increasing individual and community income through microfinance loans and other projects. La Ceiba aims to aid these communities in gaining access to the credit and resources necessary to fufill their goals - and our ultimate goal of eliminating the indignity of poverty through economic development.

Partnering with Honduran communities to create sustainable economic growth and personal success by providing appropriate financial, social, and educational opportunities.

To provide Honduran communities with opportunities for self-advancement through a client-driven, holistic approach to economic development.

To give those in Honduran communities economic and self advancement opportunities through a holistic partnership.

To restore dignity and provide more equal opportunities by encouraging long term economic development to Honduran communities.