Why You Must Define a Culture Early On

Tom Iselin
Mar 20, 2021
3 min read

Updated: Dec 11, 2025

This blog and video provide an overview of why it's important to build a "Get a Done!" culture earlier than later.

Why You Must Define a Culture Early On

Today we continue the series on creating a Get It Done culture—and why building your culture early is one of the smartest moves you can make as a nonprofit leader.

Why Early-Stage Nonprofits Have a Major Advantage

If your nonprofit is new, you are in the perfect position to define a strong, healthy culture. Early definition makes it easier to:

Build around it
Fold people into it
Manage it
Reinforce expectations
Sustain it as you grow

When culture isn’t defined early, you run the risk of a dysfunctional or lackluster culture taking root. Once an unhealthy culture forms, it can spread into every corner of your nonprofit—board, staff, operations, programming, and relationships.

And the deeper the infection, the harder it is to heal.

Why Changing a Culture Is So Difficult

Culture change is hard because people resist change, even when the current culture is toxic. Anyone who has worked in an unhealthy environment knows the symptoms:

Rudeness
Gossip
Low productivity
Apathy
Bitterness
Disengagement

Once these behaviors embed themselves, uprooting them is tough. It’s always easier to fold people into an existing healthy culture than to try to fix a broken one later.

Which is why timing matters: build culture early, build culture intentionally.

But What If Your Nonprofit Is Older?

Don’t panic—there is hope.

Older nonprofits face a different obstacle: inertia. People get stuck in their ways and cling to familiar patterns, even when those patterns hurt:

Productivity
Morale
Communication
Mission impact

But change is possible.

The key is to surround your organization with high-quality, authentically passionate people who want to fulfill the mission. When you have the right people, culture becomes easier to shape—and easier to sustain.

How to Begin Changing or Creating Culture in an Existing Nonprofit

If your organization has been around a while and needs a cultural reset, brace yourself:It will take time.It will take effort.Expect disagreements.Expect headbutts.

To reduce resistance:

Recruit champions. Find respected staff and board members willing to support, advocate, and model the new cultural direction.
Build alignment. Once a majority of board and staff acknowledge the need for a cultural shift, momentum grows.
Hire a consultant if needed. A skilled facilitator brings neutrality, structure, and civility, preventing unnecessary tension.

When everyone agrees it’s time to build—or rebuild—your culture, the next step is defining your cultural attributes, what I call cultural facets.

Start With Two Assessments

Determine the culture you currently have.
Define the culture you want to have.

This becomes the foundation for the culture you will build moving forward.

Takeaways

New nonprofits have a major advantage—culture is easiest to build early.
If culture isn’t defined early, dysfunction fills the vacuum.
People resist cultural change, even when the current culture is unhealthy.
Older nonprofits must overcome inertia and resistance from people set in their ways.
Surrounding yourself with high-quality, passionate people makes culture creation far easier.
To change culture, recruit champions, align leadership, and consider using a consultant.
Culture work starts by assessing what exists and defining what you want.

Summary

Early cultural definition gives nonprofits clarity, unity, and momentum. Without intentional culture, dysfunction takes root and becomes difficult to change—especially in older organizations. Whether your nonprofit is new or decades old, the path to a Get It Done culture begins with honest assessment, leadership alignment, and clear articulation of the values and behaviors you want to embody. Build it early if you can; rebuild it intentionally if you must. A strong culture becomes the backbone of every high-performance nonprofit.

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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