A content analysis of mission and vision statement of NGOs: Focusing on Korean international development NGOs

Abstract

Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) express their guiding principles and philosophy by defining their mission and vision. Mission and vision make obvious the social issues that NGOs seek to address. Using them wisely will help NGOs allocate their scarce resources better and improve communication with internal and external stakeholders. Despite the significance of mission and vision, more study focusing on NGOs is still needed. This study examines the mission and vision statements of NGOs working on international development in Korea. All KCOC (Korea NGO Council for Overseas Development Cooperation) member organisations’ missions and vision statements were reviewed for this. Based on the eight components of a mission statement identified by Pearce and David(1987), we examined the mission and vision statements of the international development NGOs in Korea. One of the key findings is that international NGOs and organisations with a lengthy history are more likely to have mission and vision statements. Secondly, the mission and vision statements comprise 4.1 components on average. The contents of the mission and vision statements of national NGOs and organisations founded in the 2000s or later are more diverse. Lastly, the organisation’s mission and vision statements most frequently refer to the organisation’s philosophy. The organization’s target, location, problems to be addressed, services, public images, growth, and technology were followed.