Why organizational purpose often evolves beyond founders’ intentions

Recent scholarship on organizational purpose emphasizes that purpose is often dynamic, contested, and shaped through ongoing organizational processes.

A recent study by Farah Kodeih, Henri Schildt, Emma Sandström, Davide Ravasi, and Jukka-Pekka Heikkilä examines how social purpose forms and evolves within nonprofit organizations. Their longitudinal research highlights a dynamic that many philanthropic and nonprofit organizations may recognize in practice: purpose is not only shaped by founders or formal mission statements, but also by volunteers, employees, beneficiaries, and day-to-day organizational practices.

The study challenges the common assumption in governance that leaders primarily safeguard organizations against “mission drift.” Instead, the researchers show that organizational members may also reshape organizational purpose in order to protect it from becoming irrelevant or ineffective in practice.

A tension between aspiration and practice

The researchers followed the development of a nonprofit organization founded during the European refugee crisis. Initially, the founders articulated an ambitious purpose focused on integrating refugees through technology entrepreneurship.

Over time, however, tensions emerged between the founders’ vision, volunteers’ experiences with beneficiaries, and what appeared achievable and meaningful in practice.

Volunteers who worked directly with beneficiaries increasingly questioned whether the organization’s activities actually addressed people’s needs. Some members felt the organization prioritized startup culture and technology entrepreneurship over tangible social support.

Rather than simply reflecting dysfunction, these tensions gradually reshaped the organization’s purpose.

Why this matters for philanthropic organizations

For philanthropic and nonprofit organizations, the study raises an important governance question: how adaptable should organizational purpose be?

Purpose is often treated as something stable that leaders define and protect, especially in public benefit foundations that originate from a private endowment. Yet the study suggests that an overly rigid purpose may create disconnects between organizational aspirations, stakeholder expectations, and actual societal impact.

At the same time, an underdefined or highly fluid purpose can create fragmentation and confusion.

Purpose as an ongoing organizational process

One of the most interesting contributions of the study is its view of purpose as an ongoing process rather than a fixed statement.

The researchers distinguish between leaders’ purpose narratives, members’ understandings of purpose, and the enactment of purpose in practice.

Misalignment between these dimensions can create conflict, fragmentation, or mission drift, but may also stimulate organizational learning and adaptation.

For boards and leaders in philanthropic organizations, the challenge is therefore not only defining purpose clearly, but continuously testing whether organizational practices, member experiences, and intended societal impact remain aligned over time.

Based on: Kodeih, F., Schildt, H., Sandström, E., Ravasi, D., & Heikkilä, J.-P. (2025). Social Purpose Formation and Evolution in Nonprofit Organizations. Organization Science.