Misión, Visión y Valores. Elementos determinantes en la construcción de un propósito diferenciador para las organizaciones del Tercer Sector

Abstract

The Third Sector in Spain is characterized by its high degree of atomization, for which differentiation plays a determining role since the survival of NGOs lies in the identification with the causes that occupy them by public as relevant as the collaborators, partners or donors. For this reason, it is considered essential to make visible how NGOs define themselves and present themselves to their stakeholders through the formulation of the mission, vision and values, as fundamental elements in the communication of their purposes. Consequently, this article, through the qualitative technique of content analysis, focuses on the reports and websites of five of the organizations with the greatest presence in Spain: Cáritas Española, Cruz Roja Española, Fundación OXFAM Intermón, Fundación Save The Children Spain and UNICEF Foundation-Spanish Committee. All of them recognized by the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), belonging to the Coordinator of NGDOs (CONGD) and positioned in terms of notoriety among the top ten by the public according to the study prepared by Kantar Millward Brown and the AEFr, which analyzes the evolution of the profile of Spanish donors and their relations with NGOs under the title The collaboration of Spanish with non-profit entities. Donor Profile 2018 (2019). In order to know the level of differentiation and the degree of specificity in the self-definition of each case, this article seeks a comparative analysis that allows locating similarities and differences in the discourse of these organizations. In this context, it is especially important to identify, analyze and compare the rhetoric used to present the mission, vision and values as elements that can be condensed into the purpose and determine the self-definition of NGOs. Together with the descriptive scope of the work regarding these basic elements of corporate identity, this research allows knowing the degree of differentiation with which organizations present themselves and pointing out opportunities for improvement in the formulation and communication of their purposes. The results of the research reveal that, to the detriment of differentiation, the rhetoric used and the discursive strategies of the sample respond to a greater degree to reductionist and little differentiating messages. And the enunciation of the purpose appears disintegrated in various supports, hindering its communicative power. It is also cause for reflection to observe how, despite the diversity of each NGO regarding fields of action, users, beneficiaries, territories in which it operates, etc., they all present their main values around solidarity, integrity and transparency. With what is deduced a lack of depth, even of intention, when it comes to exactly identifying highly differential values. As mediating actors and agents of change, NGOs must make use of creativity not only in their speeches, but also in the design of conversation plans to strengthen their symbolic capital. The evolution of institutional communication must combine the communication plan with the conversation plan. And the entities should establish an "editorial line" guided by their objectives and purpose to produce content associated with their activity, as well as exploit their informative and dialogue-generating capacity to strengthen engagement with their stakeholders.