An executive transition is a critical time for a nonprofit. It can bring both uncertainty and opportunity to an agency’s future. As a growing number of baby boomers near retirement in the nonprofit sector, greater attention has been given to executive turnovers, with an increasing number of publications and services devoted to this area. 

In addition to Third Sector New England’s executive transition services and topical articles, we have listed the following web links and publications below.

Web Resources

• Annie E. Casey Foundation
  Offers links to executive transitions material that can be downloaded in a PDF format, including:
  • The Nonprofit Executive Leadership and Transitions Survey 2004
    Provides results from a web based survey of over two thousand executive directors from nonprofit organizations
  • Executive Transitions Monograph Series 
    A series of monographs devoted to executive transition management, including:
    • Capturing the Power of Leadership Change: Using Executive Transitions Management to Strengthen Organizational Capacity. (2004, Volume 1).
    • Interim Executive Directors: The Power in the Middle. (2005, Volume 2).
    • Founder Transitions: Creating Good Endings and New Beginnings: A Guide for Executive Directors and Boards. (2005, Volume 3).
    • Up Next: Generation Change and the Leadership of Nonprofit Organizations. (2005, Volume 4).
    • Staying Engaged, Stepping Up: Succession planning and executive transition management for nonprofit boards of directors. (2006, Volume 5).
• CompassPoint
  • Wolfred, Tim, and Jeanne Peters. 2001. Daring to Lead: Nonprofit Executive Directors and Their Work Experience.
  • Wolfred, Tim. Winter 2002. “Stepping Up: A Board's Challenge in Leadership Transition”. The Nonprofit Quarterly. Volume 9, Issue 4.
• Greater Worcester Community Foundation
  • Randall, Gail, and Suzanne Maas. 2004. Executive Director Tenure and Transition in Southern New England.
• NeighborWorks
  • Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation. August 1998. Managing Executive Transitions. NeighborWorks Publication.
    A handbook developed from the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation’s Community Development Leadership Project; offers recommendations and resources for organizations experiencing executive transitions
• TransitionGuides
  Provides a general overview of executive transitions, offers a resource section with links to articles and book suggestions on the topic of executive transitions and produces an e-newsletter, TransitionLeader

Publications

• Albert, Sheila. 2000. Hiring the Chief Executive (Revised): A Practical Guide to the Search and Selection Process.
• Brinckerhoff, Peter. Generations: The Challenge of a Lifetime for Your Nonprofit. Fieldstone Alliance.
  Discusses implications and offers advice on the Baby Boomers’ retirement from the nonprofit sector
• The Nonprofit Quarterly. Winter 2002. “Departing? Arriving? Surviving and Thriving: Lessons for Seasoned and New Executives.” Volume 9, Issue 4.
  This issue is sold out, but a compendium of articles from the issue is available for purchase.
• Karen Gaskins Jones. Spring 2007. “Preparing an organization to sustain capable leadership.” The Nonprofit Quarterly, Volume 14, Issue 1.