Why Defining Culture Is Essential for a Get It Done Nonprofit
- Tom Iselin
- Mar 20, 2021
- 4 min read
Updated: Dec 11, 2025
This blog and video provide a brief case study of why it's important to build a unified culture . . . and the downside consequences if you don't.
Why Defining Culture Is Essential
for a Get It Done Nonprofit
Today, we continue the series on building a Get It Done culture—one of the most foundational cornerstones of a gold-standard nonprofit. Culture is a First Things First principle because the most innovative, high-performing organizations have something powerful in common: a unifying ethos that connects hearts, minds, and actions to fulfill the mission.
If there’s no shared purpose… no collective value system… no directed action…Then a nonprofit will develop a dysfunctional culture—one unsure of who it is, what it stands for, or where it’s going. The organization may serve beneficiaries, have occasional moments of greatness, and even look busy, but eventually its tendons snap under the pressure of uncertainty and lack of alignment.
This is why defining a culture is essential!
What a Strong Culture Makes Possible
When culture is well-defined and promoted internally, it becomes the foundation for everything else:
Operations
Programming
Staffing
Decision-making
Accountability
Mission fulfillment
A unified culture creates an environment where:
People work as a team
Everyone shares a common purpose
Excellence becomes the norm
Adversity is met with perseverance
And working together is fun
As we said last week:Your mission tells people what you do.Your vision tells people where you’re going. But your culture tells people who you are.
A Case Study: Sun Valley Adaptive Sports
When I stepped in to rescue Sun Valley Adaptive Sports, it had no real culture—at least not a healthy one. Instead, it had:
Six conflicting mission statements
No policies
No job descriptions
No strategic plan
No accountability
Unhappy staff
Disappointed donors
A “wing-it” management style triggered by the founder’s departure
People had personal beliefs about the mission, but no shared values or collective ethos. There was no moral compass. No authentic passion. No unifying force.
How We Rebuilt the Culture from Scratch
My first few days required no work from anyone. Instead, I focused entirely on creating safe, personal environments where staff, volunteers, and board members felt free to share openly.
We met at:
Coffee shops
Restaurants
Hiking trails
Mountain bike rides
Potluck dinners
We talked about:
Childhoods
Quirky habits
Personal tragedies
Motivations
Why they joined the organization
What they believed in
What they valued
Night after night, I journaled everything. After weeks of listening, I saw clear threads emerge—shared values deeply aligned with the mission:Compassion. Wellness. Fun. Family. Adventure. Healing.
But one value rose above all: Family.
Everyone described the organization—and the work—in the context of family. Staff cared for participants like family. Volunteers cared for each other like family. Board members believed in the institution of family.
So we made “family” the cultural foundation.
Building a Family-Style Culture
We began creating systems and norms that reinforced belonging, care, and emotional safety:
Staff meetings included time for personal sharing: financial worries, relationship struggles, surgeries, achievements, parenting issues.
Board meetings were paired with dinners to deepen personal bonds.
Staff cooked meals for one another when someone was sick.
We volunteered together as a team for other nonprofits.
We camped together, laughed together, and supported one another as family.
Soon, people referred to themselves as the “team family.”
As we protected our culture fiercely, it became the filter for hiring and board nominations. The defining question was always:
“How will this person fit into our family-style culture?”
Experience, wealth, and credentials were secondary. Cultural alignment was primary.
The Power of a Unified Culture
Sun Valley Adaptive Sports had massive operational messes to repair—but our strong family culture gave us the collective motivation to clean them up and pursue big dreams.
When people ask how the organization grew into national prominence, my answer is always the same:We built a unifying culture early and stayed true to it.
If you want to build a gold-standard, high-performance nonprofit…If you want a Get It Done organization…Start by building a strong culture—and start early.
Tune in next week when we continue exploring why creating culture sooner rather than later is one of the smartest decisions you’ll ever make for your nonprofit.
Takeaways
Culture is a foundational cornerstone of a high-performance nonprofit.
Without shared values and purpose, nonprofits develop dysfunctional cultures.
Strong culture unifies teams, drives excellence, and improves mission fulfillment.
Listening deeply helps identify shared values that form the basis of culture.
Cultural alignment should be the top filter for hiring and board nominations.
A well-defined culture becomes a powerful force that accelerates growth and success.
Summary
A Get It Done culture is essential for building a gold-standard nonprofit. Without shared beliefs, values, and behaviors, organizations fall into chaos, uncertainty, and stagnation. By defining and nurturing a unifying culture—as Sun Valley Adaptive Sports did through its family-style ethos—you build the foundation for teamwork, accountability, passion, and long-term impact. Culture isn’t optional. It’s the bedrock of mission success.
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!
Board Retreats and Strategic Planning Services:
858.888.2278
