Bring on "A" Players!
- Tom Iselin
- Jun 8, 2023
- 4 min read
Updated: Dec 11, 2025
Bring on "A" Players!
Yesterday we wrapped up our discussion on quality people—why hiring, developing, and retaining the highest-caliber individuals is essential to your nonprofit’s success. Today, we’re shifting gears and diving into what “passion” really means inside a nonprofit… and why so much of what people call passion isn’t passion at all.
THE PROBLEM WITH “LIP-SERVICE PASSION”
Let’s say you ask a Fortune 500 CEO to join your board. She lights up and says she’s “passionate” about your mission. You’re thrilled.But three months later? She’s too busy to attend meetings. She has zero interest in fundraising.Sound familiar?
This happens everywhere:
Volunteers say they’re passionate about giving back
Local businesses say they’re passionate about supporting community services
Staff say they’re passionate about making a difference
But often… it’s all surface-level.Veneer passion.Lip-service passion.
Lots of talk.Little action.
To start, always be thinking you want to bring on "A" players only!
As nonprofits age, passion often becomes complacent.What once felt like champagne becomes flat soda—buzz without power, words without work.
Has your nonprofit lost its fizz?
If so, it’s time to replace lip service with authentic passion.
WHY AUTHENTIC PASSION MATTERS
Authentic passion is genuine belief in a mission manifested in meaningful action.And action requires:
Commitment
Motivation
Without authentic passion, nonprofits begin to wilt:
Work becomes “just work”
Staff quit
Volunteers drift away
Board members hide
Program quality drops
Fundraising declines
The mission erodes
You can survive for a while with one or two people carrying the passion torch.But if passion isn't shared organization-wide, those torchbearers burn out.And when they burn out, the culture collapses.
Authentic passion is a First Things First principle because every element of a successful nonprofit—fundraising, culture, programming, leadership—ultimately depends on it.
A CASE STUDY: SUN VALLEY ADAPTIVE SPORTS
In 2005, I was hired to rescue a nonprofit called Sun Valley Adaptive Sports, which provides recreation-based therapy for people with disabilities.
When I stepped in, the organization was in crisis:
The founder had abruptly quit
No strategic plan
No policies or procedures
No fundraising plan
No job descriptions
No operating structure
Six different mission statements — and no one knew which one was real
And absolutely no budget
But oh… there was passion.Or at least people SAID there was.
Board members said:
“We’re passionate about helping people with disabilities.”
“We’re passionate about starting a Special Olympics program.”
“We’re passionate about helping wounded veterans.”
“We’re passionate about sustainable funding.”
Yet in six years, almost nothing had been accomplished.
Why?
Because it was lip-service passion — passion in words, not action.
AUTHENTIC PASSION VS. LIP-SERVICE PASSION
Adaptive Sports was a ship adrift at sea:
Broken rudder
No map
Sails luffing in the wind
No one steering
Everyone talking about the destination
Almost no one willing to do the work to get there
People were passionate in their hearts, but not in their hands.And a nonprofit cannot survive on heart alone.
THE PATH FORWARD
What Adaptive Sports needed—and what most nonprofits need—is:
A plan
A set of tools
A culture that turns talk into work
A structure that transforms passion into action
Over the next several posts in this series, we’ll explore exactly how to make this transformation—how to take passion out of people’s mouths and put it into their hands.
Because authentic passion doesn’t talk.Authentic passion does.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• Most nonprofits run on lip-service passion, not authentic passion.• Authentic passion is defined by action—not enthusiasm.• Without authentic passion, nonprofits decline over time.• Passion must be shared organization-wide to remain sustainable.• The difference between “loving the mission” and “fulfilling the mission” is everything.
SUMMARY
Day Five kicks off our series on Authentic Passion by exposing the most common cultural problem in nonprofits: the gap between what people say they care about and what they are willing to do about it. True passion is not emotional excitement; it’s the willingness to work, contribute, and act. Over the coming posts, we’ll explore how to convert your organization's talkers into doers and build a culture powered by authentic passion.
Tom Iselin
“One of America’s Best Board Retreat and Strategic Planning Facilitators”
Additional Resources:
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Tom's Books, Podcasts, and YouTube Channel
About the Author
Tom Iselin is recognized as one of America’s leading authorities on high-performance nonprofits. He has built nine sector-leading nonprofits and two software companies, written six books, sits on multiple boards, and has been rated one of America’s Best Board Retreat and Strategic Planning Facilitators. His work on nonprofit strategy, board leadership, and culture has been featured on CNN, Nightline, and in Newsweek.
Tom is the president of First Things First, a firm specializing in board retreats, strategic planning services, fundraising strategy, and executive coaching for nonprofit CEOs.
Board Retreats & Strategic Planning
If you’re looking for a board retreat facilitator or strategic planning facilitator who has been in the trenches and understands real-world nonprofit challenges, Tom can help your board gain clarity, build alignment, and create an actionable plan that improves performance and impact. His sessions propel organizations to the next level of performance and impact . . . and they're fun!
Board Retreats and Strategic Planning Services:
858.888.2278
