As you may or may not know, the Muskoka Lakes Association was formed in 1894 and is Canada’s oldest cottage association. With that achievement comes a certain sense of accomplishment and success. That being said it is always important to take a step back.

In 2005, the MLA Board participated in a Strategic Planning process. We looked at the role of the MLA, our purpose and what we offer our current members and potential members on all lakes in Muskoka.

The result of this analysis was that the Board identified 5 key differentiators of the MLA: 

1. Water Quality Initiatives including testing.
2. Involvement in big picture environmental issues of land use that are precedent setting and have implications on other land uses in our area.
3. Political involvement in issues as demonstrated by attending Council meetings and interviewing candidates
4. Safety initiatives such as our safe boating courses
5. Experience as a catalyst, if an issue is too large or is better served by another organization we will initiate or participate in creating it, such as Acid Rain, Heritage Foundation, and most recently WRAFT.

We also identified that we have other self-funded activities that are important to some of our members, these include:

1. Regatta
2. Boat Show 
3. Seedling Day
4. Yearbook
5. E-News (newsletter)
6. Website
7. Marine Patrol

For the MLA to continue to build membership and influence we need to focus on and strengthen our key differentiators. We updated our mission statement to communicate our purpose to potential new members, as well as, existing members:

The mission of the Muskoka Lakes Association is to promote the responsible use, enjoyment and conservation of the unique Muskoka environment.

Our vision is that, through the achievement of our mission, present and future generations will benefit from our efforts.

We also identified 5 values or principles of the MLA:

1. Integrity: The quality of having strong moral principles.
2. Respect: Which is defined as due regard for feelings and rights of others, means that we can respect a different position even if we disagree.
3. Responsibility: Means taking action and implies results.
4. Accountability: Justifies decisions and demonstrates effectiveness.
5. Volunteerism: Is the foundation on which this association is built. 

We look forward to our newly defined mission contributing to the continued success of the Muskoka Lakes Association.