Supporting Nonprofit Leadership Transitions: A Foundation's Journey

Our new report, Supporting Nonprofit Leadership Transitions: A Foundation's Journey, examines how funders can best support nonprofits before, during, and after leadership transitions—offering suggestions for how philanthropy can support the people, planning, and processes involved in all aspects of transitions.

Our recommendations are shaped by the experiences of Cricket Island Foundation grantee partners who have gone through a leadership transition (or are currently in transition) and by feedback from our peers. We share the story of our Leadership Transition Fund: its origins, its principles, and how it has evolved in response to grantee feedback. Twenty organizations have now participated in our multi-year program of grantmaking, technical assistance, and peer support. 

“...the philanthropic sector must change the way we engage with leadership transitions...That means collectively improving [transition] support for nonprofits, becoming more flexible and creative about how we approach transitions, and normalizing conversations around leadership changes...”

Several Leadership Transition Fund grantees at a cross-cohort leadership retreat

Recommendations for Funders:

1. Initiate regular conversations with your grantees about leadership transitions and planning.

Regularly broaching the topic of transitions with grantees normalizes it as a healthy part of both leadership and organizational development and has a greater influence in reducing the stigma associated with leadership succession than if the grantee initiated the conversation.

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2. Share leadership transition resources with your grantees.

This might include encouraging grantees to develop a full-cost budget for their transition process, including succession planning and transition costs in existing funds your foundation provides, and offering to support grantees in sharing their transition plans with other funders.

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3. Recognize and resource the full life cycle of transitions.

Access to multiyear and general operating grants—in addition to funding that grantees may already receive—encourages organizations to both prepare for their transitions over a longer term and to allocate funds in ways that work best for their own organizational cultures, practices, and processes.

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4. Invest in both incoming and outgoing leaders’ well-being and leadership before, during, and after the transition process.

Support that allows leaders to reflect, learn, build relationships, and rest is critical. Access to restorative resources—such as leadership coaching, healing work, retreats, conflict mediators, and peer learning circles—made our grantees' transitions feel meaningful, transformative, and supported.

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5. Grantees should lead the way in determining the transition model that’s best for them.

It's important to let grantees determine their own leadership and transition models—and a road map to getting there—even if the process they choose does not follow existing "best practices" or templates. Be open to grantees working in ways you haven't seen before, and to leadership transitions not going exactly as planned.

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Explore Report Recommendations

Who should read this report?

• Funders interested in how to better support their grantee partners

• Funders seeking to operationalize trust-based philanthropy in supporting leadership transitions

• Philanthropy-serving organizations who want to foster discussion among their members about the importance of supporting healthy leadership transitions

• Nonprofits who want to open a dialogue with their funders about leadership transitions

• Anyone curious to learn more about how to support leadership transitions
  

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"We believe that the philanthropic sector needs to change the way we engage with leadership transitions, so that grantee partners have the critical support to navigate these vulnerable times."

How can we learn more about nonprofit leadership transition?

If you or your organization has questions or reflections and would like to learn more about supporting nonprofit leadership transitions, please reach out to us:

Liz Sak, Executive Director, Cricket Island Foundation

If you are a funder interested in connecting with a community of peers who are also exploring this work, please contact:

Leading Forward, a funder-driven community of practice and resource hub focused on promoting equitable nonprofit leadership transitions.