These sample job descriptions for board officers from Community Change include the goals, duties and responsibilities, and qualifications for board president, vice president, treasurer, and secretary. Nonprofits can adapt the descriptions for their own board members.
Practice Note
Sample Emergency Succession Plan by Tim Wolfred gives a model plan with emphasis on "identifying the key leadership functions carried by the executive, identifying the agency managers best qualified to step into the executive role in an emergency, and prescribing the cross-training necessary to prepare the back-up managers to cover the leadership functions." (CompassPoint Nonprofit Services,
This question raises the blood pressure of many executive directors, and opinions are sharply divided, but what is the answer? See what Jan Masaoka, publisher of Blue Avocado and CEO of CalNonprofits, has to say on the topic.
© North Carolina Center for Nonprofit Organizations, Inc. From Common Ground, a publication of the N.C. Center for Nonprofits, www.ncnonprofits.org.
In this 2019 BoardSource article, Should Your CEO Serve as a Board Member?, and
Nonprofit executive directors often wonder if it's the right time to leave. Maybe the demands of the job seem ever more burdensome, or the board seems increasingly dissatisfied, or the ticking of the retirement clock is getting louder.
Common sense, an inclusive listening tour, frank dialogue, and more are essential ingredients for the process of succession. Examples of unspoken challenges are revealed in Successful Successions: Executive Transitions that Worked, stories of Nonprofit Quarterly's experience recruiting chief executives and their successors for three different organizations.
This article explores succession planning for nonprofit leaders other than the CEO. Eureka moments often occur during our consulting engagements when nonprofit teams realize the CEO is one of many individuals whose departure could cause ‘transition trauma.’ Read on for inspiration for establishing a non-CEO succession planning process. (Nonprofit Risk Management Center)
Here are a number of helpful resources from the National Council of Nonprofits to help with your succession planning efforts.
In most cases a graceful exit, in which the founder leaves the organization completely, is the most appropriate way for an organization to manage the transition from a long-time or founding chief executive. However, the conventional wisdom about founder transitions has taken on the character of an absolute rule.