We have curated this collection of resources to support your work before, during, and after a nonprofit leadership transition or succession planning process.
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Resources from the Field
Capacity Is Tested in Transition: Interim Leadership as Nonprofit Infrastructure
Drawing on the 2025 Interim Leadership in the Nonprofit Sector report by Third Sector Company, Nancy Bacon makes the case that interim leadership is not a stopgap measure but a core component of nonprofit infrastructure.
First-Hand Lessons on Leadership Transitions: A Conversation with Viridiana Hernandez
In this interview with the Leadership Learning Community, Viridiana Hernandez reflects on her transition, offering candid insight into the emotional, strategic, and structural dimensions of a leadership transition from a founder's perspective.
Change Happens: Make It Matter
This interview features NPAG's Phuong Quach in conversation with Leading Forward's Bipasha Ray, exploring why philanthropic support for nonprofit leadership transitions is both urgent and insufficient — and what funders can do to change that.
Accountability in Action Toolkit: Lessons and Resources from NFG’s Leadership Transition
Built from NFG’s own organizational development and leadership transition experience, the Accountability in Action Toolkit offers practical tools for navigating leadership change with clarity, equity, and shared responsibility.
Lessons from the Durfee Foundation's Dual Leadership Transition
This resource shares practical insights from the Durfee Foundation’s dual leadership transition, where co-leaders navigated succession planning and organizational change after decades of shared service.
Executive Transition Fund Video Library
NSI Fund’s video library shares firsthand learnings from nonprofit leaders and board members navigating executive leadership transitions. Funders can learn how thoughtful transition support strengthens governance, leadership models, and organizational resilience during moments of change.
Co-Leadership for Bottom-Up Transformation
This SSIR article examines how co-leadership models reshape organizational culture by distributing authority, fostering collaboration, and breaking down traditional hierarchical norms.
Funding Feminist Leadership Transitions: A Landscape Analysis
This report highlights how thoughtful funder support can strengthen nonprofits during leadership transitions. It offers actionable insights on trust-based relationships, direct transition funding, and long-term leadership development to help organizations navigate change with resilience and continuity.
Feminist Co-Leadership Tool Gallery
This curated collection gathers practical tools and templates that support feminist leadership and shared decision-making. It includes exercises, reflection guides, and frameworks for power-sharing and collaborative governance that can inform more equitable leadership practices.
How to Handle Founder’s Syndrome with Grace
This Nonprofit Quarterly piece offers practical guidance for nonprofit boards and leaders navigating the complex dynamics of founder’s syndrome.
State of Nonprofits 2025: What Funders Need to Know
This report offers funders an up-to-date, data-driven snapshot of nonprofit health: what’s working, where capacity is most stressed, and how external pressures are reshaping nonprofit operations.
Funding Through Change: Learning from Leadership Shifts in the Gender Equity Field
This report from Schusterman Family Philanthropies captures key lessons from leadership transitions in the gender equity field. It highlights how funders can strengthen nonprofits by showing up (even early on) with trust, resources, and long-term partnership during times of change.
Breaking the Silence: Making Leadership Transitions Safe for Nonprofits
This podcast episode features leaders from the Open Society Foundations sharing why investing in new executive directors is essential to strengthening the nonprofit workforce. It explores how funders can shift their practices to better support leadership transitions and long-term sustainability.
Trust in Practice: Shifting Our Stance on Leadership Transitions
This blog post, featured on the Trust-Based Philanthropy Project website, urges funders to reexamine their approach to nonprofit leadership transitions. It advocates for viewing these transitions as opportunities for renewal rather than risks, emphasizing the importance of trust and proactive support for incoming leaders.
from Creative Disruption to Systems Change- a 20-Year Retrospective on the Durfee Foundation Sabbatical Programming
Discover valuable insights from two decades of the Durfee Foundation’s sabbatical programs, emphasizing how structured rest can empower leadership, enhance organizational resilience, and facilitate long-term systems change—essential strategies for impactful funding decisions.
In Support of Those Who Take the Leap
This Open Society Foundations report offers powerful, first-hand reflections from nonprofit leaders navigating leadership transitions, highlighting the emotional, strategic, and organizational realities of stepping into executive roles. It outlines how funders can better support leaders through these high-stakes moments of change.
Investing in New Executive Directors, Part 2
This podcast episode offers an inside look at an executive transition through the voices of both the outgoing and incoming executive directors. Their candid reflections reveal the personal and organizational dynamics that shape a successful leadership handoff.
Investing in New Executive Directors, Part 1
This podcast episode features leaders from the Open Society Foundations sharing why investing in new executive directors is essential to strengthening the nonprofit workforce. It explores how funders can shift their practices to better support leadership transitions and long-term sustainability.
Executive Transitions Fund Report
This Nonprofit Sustainability Initiative report highlights how funders can strengthen the nonprofit sector by proactively investing in leadership transitions. It showcases the impact of the Executive Transitions Fund in helping organizations not only survive change but grow through it.
Supporting Nonprofit Leadership Transitions: A Foundation’s Journey
The Cricket island Foundation’s 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.
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