How Authentic Passion Transforms a Nonprofit

Tom Iselin
Mar 20, 2021
3 min read

Updated: Dec 11, 2025

This blog and video is a brief summary of all the topics covered in all 7 parts of the Authentic Passion episodes.

How Authentic Passion Transforms a Nonprofit

Years ago, when I ran Sun Valley Adaptive Sports, the organization had plenty of people who talked passionately about the mission—but very few who followed through. They loved telling donors how committed they were, but when it came to doing the work, taking action, and fulfilling obligations, their passion evaporated.

This wasn’t authentic passion.It was lip service passion—and it was draining the organization.

How Authentic Passion Transforms a Nonprofit . . . learn more now!

The High Cost of Lip Service Passion

Because the board wasn’t acting on the mission, we spent two full years replacing members and rebuilding culture. That meant enormous losses in time, energy, and money—resources that should have supported programming, fundraising, and operations.

Most nonprofits never recover from this kind of cultural drain. When lip service passion dominates:

Funding dries up
People quit
Volunteers disengage
The mission slowly wilts

Lip service passion suffocates performance and progress.

Authentic Passion Must Be a Cornerstone

To build a high-performance, “Do Something” nonprofit, authentic passion must be a structural, cultural, and philosophical cornerstone.

Everything depends on it: Your sustainability.Your operations.Your fundraising.Your mission impact.

Startups vs. Established Nonprofits

Startups have a major advantage—they can embed authentic passion right from the beginning:

Put it in bylaws
Define it in purpose statements
Hire passionate staff
Nominate passionate board members

Established nonprofits face a tougher road. They must remodel their culture while still “living in the house.” This means rewriting expectations, revising documents, shifting management approaches, and changing behavioral norms. It’s messy, inconvenient, and slower than you'd like. But it’s essential.

The Rewards of Authentic Passion

Once authentic passion becomes the driving purpose of your nonprofit, powerful things happen:

New funding appears
Volunteers offer new and surprising talents
Businesses support you with donated services
Media pays attention
Board, staff, and volunteers work with renewed pride, urgency, and excellence

Lip service passion transforms into full-service authentic passion—a culture where everyone walks the walk with humility, focus, and gratitude.

Takeaways

Lip service passion drains resources and weakens mission impact.
Authentic passion must be intentionally built as a foundational cornerstone.
Startups can embed authentic passion early; established nonprofits must undertake cultural renovation.
Culture change is messy but necessary for sustainability.
Authentic passion drives deeper commitment, greater funding, and stronger organizational momentum.

Summary

Authentic passion is the heartbeat of a thriving nonprofit. While lip service passion leads to stagnation and decline, authentic passion fuels engagement, fundraising, volunteerism, unity, and mission success. Whether you’re laying a new foundation or remodeling an existing culture, authentic passion must be front and center if you want your nonprofit to grow, perform, and make meaningful impact.

Tom Iselin

Rated One of America’s Best Board Retreat

and Strategic Planning Facilitators

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!

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