Change Happens: Make It Matter

Written By Phuong Quach
 
“The far-too-common “wait and see” approach has been damaging to new leaders and also hampered their organizational ability to deliver on their missions, precisely when greater funding for strategic visioning, equitable transition processes, and robust infrastructure is needed most. Stepping up to leadership in these times is truly an act of courage. If movements and nonprofits are to survive and thrive during these challenging times, its leaders need philanthropy’s own courageous actions and unwavering support.”
— Bipasha Ray, Leading Forward
 

I made the pivot to executive search in 2023 because I’ve always been intrigued by how search firms actually work and I’ve got a passion for matchmaking. As a natural connector, I love helping people find what they need or where they belong. I was also ready for a new challenge, and I wanted to support mission-driven organizations in what I believe to be most important – leadership. 

Quickly into my time here at NPAG, I observed that the nonprofit organizations who were most in need of transition support didn’t have the resources to partner with us or any external consultants. We would often hear from a nonprofit in desperation after they have attempted to conduct an executive search on their own, using a tremendous amount of internal staff time and resources. I started to wonder what tools and resources are available to nonprofits in times of leadership transition.  Outside of search firms, who else is in this ecosystem of leadership transition work? Who is funding nonprofit organizations who are most in need of transition support? This led me to reach out to Bipasha Ray at Leading Forward, a funder community whose work is dedicated to shifting practices in philanthropy and nonprofits to more effectively support leadership transitions and succession planning for nonprofits. Here’s a bit of my recent conversation with Bipasha:

Phuong: Your work at Leading Forward is advocating for more philanthropic support to nonprofit organizations in times of executive transitions. Why is this so important? 

Bipasha: We are seeing a surge of nonprofit executive leadership transitions right now. Just as we saw one wave of leadership transitions amid the racial reckoning of 2020 and 2021, now there is another wave driven by attacks against civil society and free expression, cutbacks in government and private funding, burnout, as well as generational shifts and other structural challenges. A Chronicle of Philanthropy survey predicted in 2024 that a third of nonprofit Executive Directors would likely step down over the next two years, and that prediction has been exacerbated by the political and funding instability in the United States. 

At the same time, renewal and rejuvenation are critical for organizational health and resilience. Whether planned or unplanned, periods of leadership transitions can be important junctures for organizational transformation, with proper resourcing. Unfortunately, philanthropy has failed to adequately support nonprofits to successfully navigate these transitions, especially those involving Black, Indigenous and leaders of color, and leaders who come from the communities they serve. I know this from my own experience as a grantmaker previously, as well as from research by our partners at Building Movement Project, Echoing Green, and Bridgespan. The far-too-common “wait and see” approach has been damaging to new leaders and also hampered their organizational ability to deliver on their missions, precisely when greater funding for strategic visioning, equitable transition processes, and robust infrastructure is needed most. Stepping up to leadership in these times is truly an act of courage. If movements and nonprofits are to survive and thrive during these challenging times, its leaders need philanthropy’s own courageous actions and unwavering support.

Phuong: This country is going through a lot right now. Funders need to make tough decisions with limited resources. Why should leadership transition be a funding priority? 

Bipasha: Leadership transitions are important pivot points for organizational rejuvenation, and when robustly supported, healthy transitions can build resilient movements and a vibrant democracy. Well-supported transitions can be transformational for nonprofits – especially critical at a time when nonprofits advancing justice and power-building need resourcing to be bold, courageous, resilient and hold ground to carry out their missions. For example, just last fall, we partnered with two worker justice organizations in Minnesota, Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en la Lucha (CTUL) and ISAIAH for a session at Change Philanthropy’s Unity Summit. As both embarked on leadership transitions from long-time EDs, they built leadership capacity at every level – not just for their executives, but for their entire staff, worker-led boards and membership. They also re-examined deeply and revamped their organizational and leadership structures to best achieve impact and advocate for fair and just policies for worker power in the current politically-challenging moment. This internal investment has proven to be crucial. Their organizational and leadership strengths are now on full display as both organizations and their constituencies are actively responding to the crisis in Minneapolis, pivoting strategy and resources to the immediate protection and basic needs of immigrant workers, and resisting the militarization of their streets and worksites. 

This shows that even with limited resources, an investment in leadership transitions is truly greater than the sum of its parts. If you care about your grantee partners’ missions, supporting leadership transitions are a great way to ensure that they build power and strength internally at their most vulnerable time, in order to achieve their missions externally.

Phuong: That’s such a great example. I know Leading Forward is jam packed with resources for funders. In addition to grant support, how else can funders support their nonprofit partners? 

Bipasha: You can start by taking a look at our most popular toolkit, the Leading Forward Funder Action Guide.  It offers many financial and non-financial ways for funders to support their nonprofit partners before, during and after an executive transition – ranging from simple practices of care and dialogue to more intentional celebration of incoming and outgoing leadership, introductions to peer funders and access to networks.  

Phuong: Who else is leading in this work? Where can I learn more? 

Bipsha: We are uplifting narratives to show how leadership transitions are healthy and build resilience, in order to destigmatize this issue. We are joined by a number of national, regional and local funders who practice trust-based philanthropy and see leadership transitions as part of their organizational effectiveness and resilience support. We uplift their grantee-centered practices as well as the stories of movement partners, in order to inspire and encourage significant shifts in philanthropy. We’ll be presenting in-person at GEO’s conference in June in Boston as well as a few other virtual and in-person convenings throughout the year to take this message on the road.  

We encourage all grantmakers interested in this issue to join our Funder Community Portal with exclusive access to tools, resources and learning spaces to workshop better funding practices. Our Perspectives blog features funders’ own stories of creativity and casemaking to support their grantees  with robust leadership transition funding. And we regularly feature funder spotlights, upcoming events, and resources useful to nonprofits, their boards and other capacity providers in our quarterly newsletter  and Resource Hub, that are open to all. Here are some great leaders and organizations and resources to spotlight:

Feel free to connect with me at bipasha@leading-forward.org if you’d like to uplift any funder practices around supporting leadership transitions and learn ways to deepen your practice! 

Thank you, Phuong for giving me the space and opportunity to share our work. 

Phuong: Thank you for doing this critical work, Bipasha. Appreciate you! 

Phuong Quach https://www.npag.com/phuong-quach
Previous

Why You Should Champion Pay Transparency Before It’s Required