Advice for a Long-Term Leader Considering a Departure

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These are some tough lessons for a long-term leader to learn from someone who has seen a lot of transitions.

You are not the job or the organization. You are one person who has poured heart and soul into this nonprofit but you are replaceable. Someone else will do it differently. They’ll do some things better and some things less well. But you will have to let go. You can only control the process until you leave and even then, it will be increasingly less in your control. 

It is time for you to think about the legacy you want to leave. How can you ensure the best chance of success for the organization you have built up? Here are some suggestions.

Transfer responsibilities and relationships to other staff. Start now – the new ED doesn’t have to have all the same responsibilities that you did, and in fact, won’t be able to take on all of that legacy work when they are learning the role. Start delegating and empowering your staff to take on this work. You need to ensure that key donor and partnership relationships are organizational relationships not dependent upon you.

Build a strong board. Often with a long-term ED, the board is a gathering of people who have a relationship with the ED. They aren’t a cohesive team with strong bonds between each other. They need to fully understand the work you do. They need to be a team in order to do the work of hiring and supporting the next executive director. They need to be fully enmeshed in the mission and vision of the organization and making strategic decisions. How can you help them build this team ethic?

Document, document, document. Write down as much as you can. Make sure you have a list of computer accounts and critical deadlines. Give the new ED a roadmap so they know what to expect in their first year. Explain the revenue sources and the relationships that make them work. Let someone know that one funder hates phone calls but another only wants to communicate by phone.

Clean house. Do what you can to leave a clean house for your successor. This includes cleaning out decades of paperwork. It also includes letting go of work and people that no longer serve the organization. 

Raise money for the new ED – make sure they have a cushion so they can get started without worrying about making payroll in week one.

Prepare yourself. Work on your own emotional state and extracting yourself from the organization. Work with a therapist or coach if you can – this is a big task and the more you can do it yourself, the better the transition will be. Find other ways to make a difference. One ED I worked with was excited to take care of her new grandchild full-time. Another planned a long trip to help herself reset. It doesn’t have to be a full plan for what you are doing for the next ten years, but what are you excited to have time to do now? Visit family? Train for a bike trip? Volunteer in a completely different field? Pick something you can look forward to.

Be an enthusiastic supporter of the new ED and the organization after you leave. Your voice will still carry a lot of weight in the community – take the high road. Likewise, be prepared to ask for what you need if that’s possible. How would you like to be honored after your departure? Think about what would make the most difference to you so you’re ready to ask for it. You may want to stay involved – if so, take a sabbatical first, and then come back and talk through the options with the new ED. But give them space first to establish themselves in the role, and remember that they are the ones who get to decide whether you come back. If you do return, set boundaries on what you will do and when the role will be revisited or ended. Clear boundaries make for good relationships.

Help tell the story of the transition – you can create a narrative that explains why you are leaving and centers the mission and organization, not just the leader.

Does this all sound like a lot to do? It is. It’s a time-consuming process but better to prepare than not. Without it, you risk a very bumpy transition.

I recommend Tom Adams’ book, The Nonprofit Leadership Transition and Development Guide as a great introduction to leadership transitions. Community Action’s guide to succession planning also covers the subject well.

Please reach out if you’d like to chat about your own succession planning. I have many resources to share and have helped organizations create and execute their transition plans. Book a time with me on this page.

Start with the Ending

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A Guide for New Executive Directors

As a seasoned executive director, I’ve learned that the most effective leaders are those who not only excel in their current roles but also thoughtfully plan for their departure. While it may seem counterintuitive to think about leaving as you’re just beginning, a strategic approach to succession planning ensures a smooth transition and positions your organization for continued success.

Key steps to take from day one:

  • Develop relationships with all staff, board, and key partners. It’s easy to get caught up in small crises when you start a position but building relationships will allow you to make the changes you need long-term. All of the other steps will result from this initial work.
  • Conduct a comprehensive organizational assessment. This will identify quick fixes to implement right away and longer-term projects to explore.
  • Understand the finances in-depth. I create both short and long-term forecasts to help the board make realistic plans for their new executive director. I need to understand all of the funding sources and their potential for continuation
  • Implement board succession planning – including planning for term limits, filling vacancies, and recruiting officers. I often find that this has been neglected at nonprofits.
  • Explore succession planning with the board and work with them on a succession policy.
  • Create an operations manual. I document my work as I go knowing that I will be handing it off to someone else soon.
  • Start leadership development planning while assessing staff capabilities. I won’t make significant staff changes, but I will take care of any serious issues. I might suggest staff restructuring or a change in responsibilities. Or I recommend staff who are potential future leaders and how to expand their skill sets.
  • Help the board establish initial goals and evaluation processes for the new executive director so everyone is on the same page about priorities from the beginning.

Sometimes I wish I had taken my own advice. For example, it took three months to understand the complex finances at one organization where I was the interim. They had various funding sources and were paid in arrears for most of their work. I wished I had spent more time focused on what was coming in from the beginning. The board and I addressed some deferred building maintenance, but in retrospect, we should have focused more on fundraising before spending funds we didn’t have.

Remember, a well-planned departure is not just about handing over the reins; it’s about setting the stage for future success. Start with the end in mind, no matter how far off it is.

Navigating Change and Growth: My Journey at Lincoln Bike Kitchen

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Lincoln Bike Kitchen (LBK) was an organization in need of a major transition. With no staff members previously, the functioning of the nonprofit relied heavily on the dedication of its board members for all administrative and operational tasks. The Lincoln Bike Kitchen’s mission to repair donated bicycles and provide them to the community was supported by a strong volunteer base that preferred to wrench on bikes rather than manage spreadsheets. Recognizing the limitations this model presented, the board concluded that hiring staff was the essential next step towards organizational growth. At the same time, they were embarking on a capital campaign as part of an upcoming move to a larger location and needed staff support to manage the campaign details. LBK hired me as their interim executive director to help them reach their goals.

Upon joining, I met with board members to assess the needs at LBK. My agenda prioritized not only tangible improvements such as software implementation but also a cultural shift within the board to adapt to a staff-led management approach.

I set up the Bike Kitchen’s first donor database and populated it with donor information from the previous three years, after extensively cleaning the data. This enabled the Capital Campaign Committee to identify and communicate with their top donors. I also developed procedures to track and recognize donations throughout the campaign.

Another important change was switching to using QuickBooks from spreadsheets for financial management. With construction and adding staff, a spreadsheet was no longer sufficient to track all transactions and they were ready to make the change. Together with a volunteer, we set up a chart of accounts appropriate for a small organization and began tracking all income and expenses.

These were two of the concrete steps I took to prepare the organization to grow. In addition, I focused my work on helping the board transition its role from directly managing all aspects of the nonprofit to a governance-based model overseeing an executive director who would be in charge. I also implemented various changes to smooth the way for the new executive director as I anticipated that this person wouldn’t have prior ED experience. 

Some of the steps I took included:

  • Establishing regular board meetings, board packets, and board agendas
  • Updating bylaws and ensuring compliance with existing term limits
  • Trainings at board meetings about the upcoming changes with a permanent ED and how the board and an ED could work together successfully
  • Drafting fiscal policies and personnel policies

After I led the board through the hiring process, I encouraged the board and ED to work together on setting mutual goals and an evaluation process for the new ED.

Along the way, I was reminded of many lessons I’ve learned. As always, it takes longer than you think. I was in the position for about seven months. I made great progress on many fronts and helped the Bike Kitchen complete its capital campaign but wished I had more time to help build consensus about what the new ED’s role would be. Toward the end of my time, we were focused on wrapping up the capital campaign, planning for the move and selecting the new ED, and there was little time for anything else. 

I had hoped to help LBK implement improved bike tracking and communication systems but that proved to be a bigger task than we anticipated. There weren’t solutions in place that we could implement right away. 

Nevertheless, my contributions, particularly in financial acumen, non-profit governance expertise, and administrative management, were well-received by the board members. While my tenure may have been brief, the groundwork laid has paved the way for the Lincoln Bike Kitchen’s continued growth.

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Are you looking to transition your organization to having its first staff member? Or do you need to focus on a different kind of transition? Contact me to discuss ideas.



Sometimes It’s Cheaper to Hire a Search Consultant

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Engaging a professional executive search consultant can offer substantial cost benefits. This was borne out in a recent collaboration with a nonprofit board that had initially attempted to find a new executive director on their own. After months of stress, no candidates were found who were right for the position, prompting the board to enlist my expertise. I helped them find multiple highly-qualified candidates and they hired their top choice.

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Case Study: Effective Communication in a Crisis

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I was recently involved in a situation where a nonprofit had to deal with a quickly escalating negative PR issue. I learned a lot about how to manage the issue quickly and effectively.

The situation: a video was posted online that showed a board member conducting herself in a manner both contrary to organization policy and generally accepted behavior. The board member continued to add fuel to the fire in the video’s comments in an attempt to defend herself, and also publicly identified herself as a board member of the organization. The video rapidly went viral with people sharing and commenting on it from around the world. The organization’s leaders were receiving many messages demanding they do something about this board member.

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Eight Great Alternatives to Starting a Nonprofit

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Umbrella and money

Starting a nonprofit organization sounds like fun, but the reality is that it takes quite a bit of work. There are valid reasons to start a new organization, but your very first step should be extensive research to make sure the need isn’t being filled already by someone with more experience. All too often, I hear about someone starting an organization to help a village in Africa or to raise money to fight a disease. That time and money could be better spent by joining efforts with an existing group.

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An Executive Director Search on a Budget

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Many small nonprofits aren’t ready to hire a search firm to find their next executive director. Organizations can do the search themselves but should involve people in the process who have experience in searches and follow best practices. Below is an overview of the process that will result in the best possible hire on a budget. Keep in mind that this method will take a significant amount of the board’s time to carry out.

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Why Your Organization Needs an Interim Executive Director

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Why Your Organization Needs an Interim Executive Director

In any nonprofit organization, the executive director plays a key role. The director is the conduit between the board and staff, the public face of the organization, the person who guides the direction of the organization, and much more. When a long-time director leaves, or when the organization has had multiple directors during a short period of time, the board should consider bringing in an interim executive director to strengthen the organization and facilitate the transition. An interim executive director gives the board time for a comprehensive search for the next executive director, since they don’t have to worry about hurrying to get leadership in place.

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Crafting an Operating Manual for Your Organization

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Image by Pexels from Pixabay

As your organization grows, you will develop the best ways to carry out every aspect of your work. Sometimes these are nonprofit best practices. Other times they are simply the methods your bookkeeper or funder wants you to use. The more of these procedures you develop, the more important it is to document them.

In addition, as your nonprofit grows, more staff will be taking care of different duties, and no single staff person will know how to do everything. It’s important for everyone to document their work.

This documentation has a wide range of uses. First, when you take a vacation, it makes it much easier for others to cover for you. Imagine how much easier it would be to prepare to leave for a two-week trip if you have all your day-to-day tasks already documented. Second, when you leave your position, it will be much easier to hand things off and know that the organization will be in good hands moving forward. Third, documenting this information will allow you to see where you can delegate tasks. If you can train someone on a task now, why not have them take it on permanently? Finally, having this documentation will help you be more efficient. In creating the manual, you’ll be able to think through your regular tasks and find ways to do your job more efficiently and effectively. You’ll also have all the information you need documented in one place. For example, you’ll have instructions on how to fill out that complicated form you have to fill out only once a year.

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