| 71% |
of executive directors plan to leave their current positions within five years |
| 34% |
of organizations have had two or more executive directors in the past five years |
| 88% |
of nonprofits have no succession plan! |
What Happens as a Result?
- Disruption and possible service gaps for clients
- Apprehension among staff
- Loss of mission focus during the transition
- Uneasiness (or a break in funding) among key supporters
Your organization can turn disruption into opportunity — with NSP’s help.
We believe the answer is a thoughtful, thorough executive transition.
With a carefully designed and managed process, the departure of an executive director is an opportunity for your organization to step back, reflect on your mission, and think critically and creatively about your leadership needs.
Highly skilled and experienced transition consultants and interim executive directors are available to work closely with you.
A transition consultant helps guide your board and transition team through the essential steps of leadership change. The consultant will:
- Assess your organization’s strengths, capacity, critical needs and current and future goals.
- Ensure that the board and staff are in alignment as the process begins.
- Create a plan for the entire transition process, including assembling a transition team and outlining a clear set of action steps.
- Develop a clear position profile that accurately describes the current status, needs, plans, and expectations of your organization.
- Conduct a deep and broad search of a diverse candidate pool to deliver a strong group of executive-level candidates.
- Develop performance objectives and an evaluation plan for the new executive director’s first year.
- Provide executive coaching for the new executive director and ensure that appropriate support mechanisms are in place to ease the transition.
An interim executive director provides day-to-day administrative leadership while the search for a new leader is underway. As a veteran nonprofit administrator, the interim executive director can bring objectivity, a fresh perspective, and new ideas to your organization. This person can help ease the passage of the previous executive director while preparing the staff for new leadership. This is more than many traditional search firms provide.
Executive Transition grants are available to help pay for the transition consultant's time and to help you identify an interim executive director from our pool who is a good fit for your organization.
For more information about executive transitions in nonprofit organizations please visit TransitionGuides.
For more information about the role of the board during this critical phase of an organization's development, read an article by Timothy Wolfred, Ph.D. in the Winter, 2002 issue of Nonprofit Quarterly entitled: Stepping Up: A Board's Challenge in Leadership Transition..
Read the Southern New England Executive Director Tenure and Transition Survey, 2003 (PDF, 76 KB)
Read a survey of clients that participated in the Executive Transition Program.