[Dalya’s Note: This is an excerpt from my award-winning book, Writing to Make a Difference: 25 Powerful Techniques to Boost Your Community Impact.]
Remind your readers continually of what is innovative about your mission. No one likes to reinvent the wheel or be part of something garden-variety. Show that you play a special and essential role in your field: a role that cries out for involvement from your readers.
Ask yourself: How is your mission unique within your field, and how does that give you a special niche?
Your mission may be to implement an entirely new solution to an age-old problem that has been haunting your community. Or maybe you are striving to improve or expand what already has begun to work. Either way, identify what it is about your mission that makes it extraordinary.
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Examples
1) Por Fin Nuestra Casa (Spanish for “finally, a home of our own”) has the mission:
“To raise the standard of living for families who currently reside in dangerous or substandard conditions.”
Not so unique, you might think. But they then flesh it out:
“We advance this cause by creating shelters from low-cost recycled materials. PFNC utilizes surplus shipping containers resulting from the United States’ consistent trade deficit. These containers serve as the building block of PFNC housing, but go through an extensive conversion process to make them a home. PFNC offers an affordable housing solution that is scalable and fully portable. Each PFNC unit includes First World amenities for a price of less than $10,000 (US).”
2) Seventh Generation is a pioneer in its industry, and that longevity makes it stand out:
“Established in 1988, Seventh Generation is the nation’s most widely recognized brand of natural household and personal care products. For 20 years, the closely held Burlington, Vermont-based company has been at the forefront of a cultural change in consumer behavior and business ethics.
One of the country’s first self-declared “socially responsible” companies, Seventh Generation is a business that operates according to a new and different set of principles and values that in many ways are a marked departure from those long considered “traditional.” Its business practice is focused on offering people avenues to express their idealism, passion, and commitment to causes larger than themselves at every point along its supply chain—from suppliers and partners to shareholders, customers and its own staff.”
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Another way to point out your organization’s unique value to your community is to ask your readers to imagine a world without anyone working to advance your mission. What void would that leave? And how troubling would that picture be?
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Example
Imagine our urban neighborhood if the Teen Center suddenly disappeared…
Very few places would remain for our young people to continue to develop their hearts and minds after the school day ends. Without supportive adult mentors and role models, they would lose critical opportunities to get tutoring help, build new leadership and social skills, discover their unique talents, interests, and strengths, and prepare for their futures. They also would no longer have a safe place to mingle and relax with their peers.
Our teens must deal daily with grinding poverty and all of the risks and problems that come with it. Without a positive, empowering “home away from home,” they would be left with few alternatives to unhealthy or illegal activities on the streets. Drug trafficking, a proliferation of gangs, and increased violent crime would likely soon follow.
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Identifying the uniqueness in your organization’s mission and style is a crucial aspect of furthering your brand.
