Purpose:

Mandates placed on an organization consist of the various "musts" that it confronts. In knowing these, they can avoid the following mistakes:

1. Not knowing what they must do, they are unlikely to do it.
2. They may believe they are more tightly constrained in their actions than they actually are.
3. They may assume that if they are not explicitly told to do something, they are not allowed to do it.
 
 

Approaches:

Members should read the relevant legislation, ordinances, charters, articles, and contracts that outline the organization's formal mandates. 
 

John M. Bryson, Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations:  A Guide to Strengthening and Sustaining Organizational Achievement, rev. ed. (San Francisco:  Jossey-Bass, 1995), 26.