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.

This SSIR article examines how co-leadership models reshape organizational culture by distributing authority, fostering collaboration, and breaking down traditional hierarchical norms.

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.

This Nonprofit Quarterly piece offers practical guidance for nonprofit boards and leaders navigating the complex dynamics of founder’s syndrome.

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.

Author: The Center for Effective Philanthropy
Publisher: The Center for Effective Philanthropy
Resource Type: Report Snapshot
Leading Forward Principle: Cultures of Belonging & Wholeness

This CEP Research Snapshot offers insight into foundation leaders’ perspectives and actions related to the well-being and burnout of staff at the organizations they fund.

Use this report snapshot to:

• Explore how foundation leaders understand the state of well-being among their grantees and what they do to support it.

• Access resources about assessing and supporting well-being practices in the nonprofit workplace.

This study reflects the insight of BIPOC leaders navigating positions of power in social change organizations as they succeeded white predecessors. Through a partnership between Ericka Stallings of Leadership Learning Community, Bianca Anderson of ProInspire, and AiLun Ku of BIPOC Leaders Network and the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation, we spoke with BIPOC leaders from across the country, who shared a wide range of experiences related to their transitions, their strategies for navigating these transitions, and specific recommendations for how to make these transitions better.

This study reflects the insight of BIPOC leaders navigating positions of power in social change organizations as they succeeded white predecessors. Through a partnership between Ericka Stallings of Leadership Learning Community, Bianca Anderson of ProInspire, and AiLun Ku of BIPOC Leaders Network and the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation, we spoke with BIPOC leaders from across the country, who shared a wide range of experiences related to their transitions, their strategies for navigating these transitions, and specific recommendations for how to make these transitions better.

Many organizations are creating and disseminating knowledge about the practice of philanthropy, but does that information actually influence how funders operate?

This quick overview of some basic transition considerations and list of handy resources comes from the Nonprofit Sustainability Initiative, built on learnings from their work in supporting executive transitions.

This hour and fifteen minute podcast covers:

• How to identify and address employee engagement differences based on employee demographic makeup

• New ways that employees may expect to influence, engage and be heard in the workplace

• How to create meaningful employee engagement practices aimed at fostering belonging

A wave of nonprofit leadership transitions is upon us. The COVID-19 pandemic, a deep economic recession, and an era of racial reckoning are leading to a number of nonprofit leaders in a variety of fields and movements in the United States to step down. Their successors, many of them BIPOC and female, have the vision and new ideas to rejuvenate their organizations and constituencies, and to reach for social and racial equity in ways that were hard to imagine just a few years ago. As these new leaders step in, major funders have to step up to offer responsible financial and other support.

A key part of Ford's BUILD grants is the Organizational Mapping Tool (OMT), an open-source assessment tool to help nonprofits identify and prioritize where they need strengthening as organizations. The tool is designed to provide clear qualitative markers of development, creating an assessment of an organization’s current state as well as a roadmap for its improvement.

A key part of Ford's BUILD grants is the Organizational Mapping Tool (OMT), an open-source assessment tool to help nonprofits identify and prioritize where they need strengthening as organizations. The tool is designed to provide clear qualitative markers of development, creating an assessment of an organization’s current state as well as a roadmap for its improvement.