Good Morning Mary Agnes, Regarding a Mission Statement.....it should be so "short" that the board, staff, and volunteers should be able to repeat it verbaitim, or at least paraphrase it. The mission statement only has utility when the board, staff, and volunteers remember it, use it, and "stick" by it when making decisions. In other words, if nobody knows it, nobody will use it. Best Wishes, Wesley P.S. It should be short enough to put on the back of a business card. So if a staff member has a memory problem (does this sound like me?), they can pull out their business card! Wesley S. Creel Administrator of Programs Pink Palace Family of Museums Memphis, Tennessee USA www.memphismuseums.org ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).