The Ford Foundation commissioned Milway Consulting to look at 12 independent initiatives aimed to influence how grantmakers and others engage in philanthropy and identify what advanced and prevented the adoption of good practice.

This is an archive of many webinars presented by Nonprofit Quarterly on this topic.

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.

Nonprofit staff leaders, boards, consultants, and funders continue to struggle with the question of how to design and execute executive transition processes that:

1. reflect equity and justice values

2. engage staff and community beyond the board of directors

3. attract and support incoming BIPOC leaders

4. allow for emergent interpretations of how executive leadership looks and acts

Watch the recording of this conversation that interrogates executive transition "best practice." Which practices might we keep and reimagine? Which can we let go of? What should we add to the transition model to center the needs and realities of incoming BIPOC leadership especially?

The Trust-Based Philanthropy Project is a five-year, peer-to-peer funder initiative to address the inherent power imbalances between foundations and nonprofits. At its core, trust-based philanthropy is rooted in a set of values that help advance equity, shift power, and build mutually accountable relationships. No matter where a foundation starts its trust-based journey, to fully embody this approach grantmakers rely on trust-based values to guide four key dimensions of their organization’s work: culture, structures, leadership, and practices.

This workbook introduces key leadership concepts, reflective leadership questions, inspirational and thought-provoking quotes, as well as resources you can use to deepen your leadership practice.

The Building Movement Project has released Trading Glass Ceilings for Glass Cliffs: A Race to Lead Report on Nonprofit Executives of Color, which focuses on the experiences and challenges of nonprofit leaders of color who have attained the top position in their organizations. It builds upon the findings of the 2019 Race to Lead Revisited report, as well as a previous report on nonprofit executives from the 2016 Race to Lead survey data.

For the past ten years the Building Movement Project has addressed leadership in the nonprofit sector by focusing on generational shifts, multigenerational leadership and new ways of leading. In each of these areas, the question we are most often asked by younger generations is whether we can provide them with new models of how to run/lead organizations that do not concentrate authority and responsibility in one top person. We believe these models exist but they are either unrecognized or embedded within traditional looking hierarchies. We also believe that highlighting different leadership structures will offer organizations examples for effective ways to operate that can increase impact.

What does nonprofit capacity strengthening mean and why is it important? How has it evolved and what are emerging trends in the field?

As part of its Organizational Effectiveness (OE) strategy refresh, the Hewlett Foundation’s Effective Philanthropy Group set out to answer these questions and better understand the current field of nonprofit capacity strengthening.

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

Much has been written about the wave of incoming BIPOC leadership at nonprofits and about how philanthropy needs to better support these leaders. Yet, we continue to hear that BIPOC nonprofit leaders feel under-supported and overwhelmed in their new positions. Clearly, something isn’t working.

Executive transitions vary in length based on the unique circumstances of each organization. However, almost every transition involves the same phases and key steps on behalf of the board and staff members.

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 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.