Announcing USA for UNHCR’s New Vision, Mission and Organizational Values

It’s been nearly 30 years since USA for UNHCR was founded by a group of Americans concerned about the global refugee crisis. In the past four years, under the leadership of Executive Director and CEO Anne-Marie Grey and the Board of Directors, the organization has chartered significant growth. Revenue has more than tripled, from $16.2 to $57.5 million, and the staff has grown to nearly 50 full-time employees.

In the midst of this tremendous growth, we wanted to revisit our mission statement to ensure it continues to reflect who we are and what are we trying to achieve. We believe our new mission statement – USA for UNHCR protects refugees and empowers them with hope and opportunity – clearly shares our passion to support whole people who happen to be refugees for a time.

With this update, we reaffirm our commitment to be with refugees from their greatest time of need – from emergency or crisis and beyond through the months and likely years that many are displaced from their home countries. We continue to dedicate ourselves to giving refugees the hope they deserve, restoring their dignity and helping them rebuild their lives.

Our updated mission statement inspired a new vision: A world without refugees. This is ambitious, and we draw inspiration from the words of Jonas Salk: “Hope lies in dreams, in imagination and in the courage of those who dare to make dreams into reality.” Just as Salk dreamed the impossible dream to cure polio – an impossibly daunting task we now take for granted – USA for UNHCR’s dream truly is that the refugee crisis would cease.

USA for UNHCR employees seek to fulfill our mission and realize our vision every day. They are the ones with the innovative ideas and the drive to make those ideas real. And so we also recognized the need for guiding principles in support of our mission statement. Over the course of several months, USA for UNHCR staff provided input on what unique values ties us together. That input, combined with feedback from our Board and organization leadership, led us to our core values.

These six values represent the best of who we are and who we want to be.

• Passionate. The heads and the hearts of our team members are committed to our mission. It’s not just a commitment, it’s a calling.
• Dynamic. We are committed to continuous evolution – finding the best course of action and taking it.
• Transparent. We are open and honest, with each other and with our donors, partners and other stakeholders.
• Cutting edge. We aspire to be pioneers and find new approaches to connect others with our mission.
• Data driven. We analyze data, facts and trends to understand our circumstances, and act on what we learn.
• Forward thinking. We are outcome-oriented and focused on what’s ahead.

Stay up to date with our work at www.UNrefugees.org, and on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.