The Duck Call

Between venturing into the woods on our staff retreat and going through the process of adding some more Ducks to our pond, we've been spending a lot of time thinking about our values.

Organizational values are important. It's the stuff that gets you out of bed in the morning and keeps you moving on the crazy days. They define what's important to you and what you believe in as a company. Your name, your logo, even your mission might change, but your values, at the core, usually stay the same.

Every nonprofit has values. If you articulate them in a clear, public-facing values statement, they become a powerful tool that you can use in lots of ways, like...

• Communicating to donors, clients, and others what you're about
• Motivating and inspiring your staff and board
• Evaluating potential new hires

If your organization hasn't written a values statement yet, we recommend it. Start by carving out a chunk of time at the end of your next staff meeting to start a brainstorm. You'll hear lots of interesting thoughts about what makes your organization tick, and perhaps you'll discover that you're all on the same page about what's really important.

Intrigued? Here are a few examples and resources:

• A post Farra wrote a few years back about values and how they come to life
• Big Duck's values statement
• Opportunity Agenda's values statement
• Auburn Theological Seminary's values statement

What are your values? Share a link or start a brainstorm in the comments.