This paper adds to the discussion of how history shapes civil society organizations (CSOs) through an investigation of Swedish folk high schools. We ask: How do CSOs balance between remaining true to their traditions and ideals, and adapting to a changing environment? Theoretically, path dependency, civil society regimes, and new institutional organizational theory are used. The material consists of interviews, surveys and documents. We address how a popular movement tradition affects Swedish CSOs and how they balance between keeping the tradition and handling changes in their environment by using popular movement connections as discursive resources as well as decoupling strategies.