Mission Drift
The Unspoken Crisis Facing Leaders, Charities, and Churches
Peter Greer · 2014 · Leadership
2 min · 9 chaptersNarrated in your voice
What it's about
Mission Drift examines how organizations, especially faith-based nonprofits, gradually lose their founding purpose through slow, often unnoticed shifts in priorities, funding, and leadership. It argues that without deliberate safeguards, even well-intentioned groups drift toward generic metrics and survival over original impact, using historical cases to show the pattern across decades.
Reading plan
Pick a finish date and Genius lays out the days — the plan shows today's target and keeps you honest.
Read together
Start a circle and share the code — everyone sees everyone's honest place in the book. Accountability, not leaderboards.
Who it's for
- A nonprofit executive noticing program changes that no longer match the original charter. - A board member of a faith-based charity evaluating new revenue streams. - A foundation officer reviewing grantees that have expanded beyond their stated mission.
What’s inside
- 1The Drift Begins1 min
Mission drift starts with small, rational decisions that later compound into fundamental change.
- 2Measuring What Matters1 min
When financial and scale metrics replace mission-specific indicators, drift accelerates.
- 3Leadership Transitions1 min
Succession without explicit mission screening produces leaders who treat the organization as a generic enterprise.
- 4Funding and Identity1 min
Reliance on revenue sources that do not share the mission creates structural incentives for drift.
- 5Safeguards That Work1 min
Organizations that retain mission over decades maintain explicit, recurring practices that force regular re-examination of purpose.
- 6Recovery After Drift1 min
Reversing drift requires more than renewed rhetoric; it demands structural reversal of the decisions that caused the shift.
About Peter Greer
Peter Greer serves as president and CEO of Hope International, a microfinance organization. He has spent two decades leading and advising faith-based nonprofits, drawing on direct experience with mission decisions and organizational drift in multiple countries.
