Did the Lighthouse Guild lose sight of its mission by diversifying its services to folks with disabilities beyond blindness? The Guild created schools for persons with disabilities that may include blindness but not singularly. The Guild also started a long-term health care plan. The plan is closing its doors in December after losing substantive amounts of money. The Guild is also closing at least one of its schools that targets folks with a variety of disabilities.
Perhaps unlike the March of Dimes which had effectively achieved mission but had tons of resources remaining and developed a new mission, the board of the Guild had not finished its mission but it did have substantive resources and determined it could expand mission by adding schools for additional populations - not wholly out of the business it was in but certainly the health care plan was a new direction.
What we don't know, although the board and management should, is what precisely was the rationale for these decisions. Retrospect indicates that the decisions have not resulted fruitfully and the board is declaring it is committed to returning to its founding mission. Lesson learned: from a Jim Collins perspective: know what you do best and do it better than anyone else. The money will follow.