The Reality of Building Culture

Tom Iselin
Mar 20, 2021
4 min read

Updated: Dec 12, 2025

This video and blog provides a summary of the key points discussed in my 9 blogs on how to create a "Get it Done!" culture.

https://youtu.be/OnrpeiN2p9o

The Reality of Building Culture

As you’ve seen over the last nine blogs, a strong, well-defined culture is one of the most critical cornerstones of a high-performance, gold-standard nonprofit. When culture is clear and functioning well, it becomes a collective mindset—a moral beacon that guides everything your nonprofit says and does. Most importantly, it becomes a powerful, unifying force that propels your organization toward its mission and long-term goals.

The Reality of Building Culture

Let’s be honest: building a culture—whether board, staff, or organizational—takes work.

Defining culture is challenging because culture is an abstract concept, much like happiness or beauty. It’s easy to recognize when it’s unhealthy. You can feel a toxic work environment or see disengaged board members from across the room. But defining a healthy, intentional, and high-functioning culture requires thought, clarity, and commitment.

What Culture Really Is

Culture is the outward expression of how and why a nonprofit operates.

It answers fundamental questions such as:

What does it mean to be part of this organization?
What does it mean to serve on this board?
What does it mean to be on this staff?
What does it mean to volunteer here?

Your mission tells people what you do.Your vision tells people where you’re going.But your culture tells people who you are—what you stand for and what you believe.

Without collective clarity around these questions, it becomes nearly impossible to fulfill your mission or arrive where you hope to go.

Why So Many Nonprofits Struggle

Many nonprofits never quite hit their stride because they lack a defined culture. Without one, organizations drift. Energy becomes fragmented. Expectations become unclear. Accountability weakens.

A well-defined culture creates a unifying ethos that yokes the hearts, minds, and actions of everyone connected with the nonprofit. It establishes a holistic environment—a prevailing spirit that influences behavior, decisions, and relationships throughout the organization.

The Building Blocks of Culture

There are many cultural elements you can use to define your culture, but three stand above all others:

Guiding beliefs
Standards
Behaviors

Once these are clear, the next step is identifying cultural facets—the specific words and phrases that symbolize your culture. Examples include excellence, accountability, teamwork, impact, and honest communication.

When defining culture, simplicity matters. Focus on the facets that best capture the essence—the ethos—of the culture you want to build.

From Definition to Action

To make culture understandable and usable, write a short culture statement—two or three sentences that narrate the facets you’ve chosen.

From there, culture must be:

Reflected in daily operations
Modeled in leadership behavior
Reinforced through policies and decisions
Celebrated intentionally
Revisited and reminded regularly

People forget. Culture fades if it’s not reinforced. Which is why reminders matter—whether through meetings, training sessions, annual reports, strategic planning retreats, or simply leadership example.

Takeaways

Culture is a foundational cornerstone of high-performance nonprofits.
Culture defines identity, behavior, and how work gets done.
Guiding beliefs, standards, and behaviors are the most important cultural elements.
Cultural facets symbolize the ethos of your organization.
A clear culture statement makes culture visible and actionable.
Culture must be reflected, celebrated, and reinforced consistently.
Leadership behavior is the strongest expression of culture.

Summary

A Get It Done culture doesn’t happen by accident. It must be intentionally defined, clearly articulated, consistently modeled, and continually reinforced. When culture is strong, it becomes a moral compass and unifying force that guides decisions, strengthens relationships, and fuels performance. If your nonprofit wants to thrive—not just survive—culture must be one of the first and most stable stones you put in place.

So here’s the final question:What would your nonprofit need to do to define and adopt a culture—organizational, board, or staff? And more importantly…What can you do this week to start the process?

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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