board of directors

Adapt from these sample bylaws only for organizations without members.

Best practices for adapting template CEO contracts to fit your organization's needs:

Use this sample inventory sheet to keep record of both onsite and offsite locations of important documents, bank account numbers, and other important information. (TransitionGuides)

Nonprofit organizations can adapt this sample emergency succession plan (CompassPoint) for the process of appointing an acting executive in the event of an unplanned absence. 

Every organization will eventually experience a change in executive leadership, which is a time of both risk and opportunity. Nonprofit organizations can adapt this executive director succession policy example to create their own succession policy (Raffa, formerly TransitionGuides).

Executive transitions can be stressful for everyone involved. Transition Guides makes this transition easier with an "Executive Search & Transition Time Line Worksheet" to assist your organization in the process. (Transition Guides)

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.

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.

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.