SAMPLE NONPROFIT - October Executive Committee Meeting

SAMPLE NONPROFIT

October Executive Committee Meeting

Contingency Planning and Succession Discussion

Thursday, October XX, 2014

Succession Planning is critical to our immediate and long-term success because it:

1) protects our organization’s capacity to perform key functions, sustain important

relationships, and fulfill our commitments to the people we serve, our funders and donors,

and the community, and

2) develops staff and volunteers (including board) for future leadership needs and

opportunities

Bryan Orander of Charitable Advisors will be joining a portion of the Executive Committee

meeting to support the discussion of succession and contingency planning and to assist in

drafting an Emergency Succession Plan for our Executive Director/CEO.

Key Questions we want to discuss:

1. Current Leadership team, tenure, individual strengths and expertise

2. How are very short-term absences covered right now for the Executive Director(like

vacation)?

3. Assuming payroll was happening, the first concerns to arise in case of the Executive

Director’s unexpected absence would be?

4. What would the board’s role be in case of an unexpected absence? Who’s involved?

5. If the Executive Director/CEO were unavailable for more than a few weeks, we would

need additional support in...?

6. What internal and external resources could we turn to?

7. If we decided we needed an Interim Executive Director, where would we look? What

would be key experience and qualities needed in this person? Short-term vs. longer

term?

Organization A

 Youth-serving organization

 8 staff, $400K budget

 Founding Exec Dir retiring after 15 years

 One year notice of departure

 Wants to remain involved with the

organization, maybe on the board

 Funding - grants, donations, United Way,

Gov’t

 Ran $20K deficit the past year.

Organization B

 Low Income Housing Ministry

 Staff of 5 with Budget of $700K

 Exec Dir of three years has just been fired by

the board for financial irregularities

 Funding from churches and individuals

 Agency has great reputation among faith

community

 Mostly new board members

How Does Your Organization Work?

Board

Executive

Director

Executive

Director

Board

Executive

Director

Board

Internal vs. External Interims

 Advantages of Internal

◦ Know the organization and people

◦ Lower outlay of funds

 Advantages of External

◦ Objectivity

◦ Specialized skills not possessed by staff

◦ No expectations with current staff about succession

◦ Board sees benefits of having a “seasoned” leader

 Suggestions:

◦ Interims should not be candidates for the position.

◦ A board member serving as interim resigns from board

Preparing for the Inevitable: A Succession Readiness Checklist

When the following conditions are in place, an agency can expect a relatively smooth transition

to new leadership whenever it might occur. An agency might determine which elements below

are lacking in its current operations and then create a “succession plan” or “capacity building

plan” that prescribes activities and timelines for filling the gaps. The agency is then ready for

leadership transitions, foreseen or unforeseen. (Building a Leaderful Organization – Tim Wolfred)

Yes

Some

A strategic plan is in place with goals and objectives for the near

term (up to three years), including objectives for leadership talent

development

The board evaluates the executive director annually on general

performance and achievement of strategic goals.

The board, based on its annual self-evaluation, is satisfactorily

performing its major governance jobs—financial oversight,

executive support and oversight, policy development, and strategic

planning.

The executive’s direct reports, based on annual evaluations, are

judged as solidly skilled for their positions.

The top management cohort, as a high performing team:

 Has a solid team culture in place in which members support

one another and can reach decisions as a group efficiently

and harmoniously;

 Shares leadership of the organization with the executive in

having significant input to all major agency decisions;

 Can lead the organization in the absence of the executive;

 Has authority to make and carry out decisions within their

respective areas of responsibility.

Another staff person or board member shares important external

relationships (major donors, funders, community leaders)

maintained by the executive.

A financial reserve is in place with a minimum of three months’

operating capital.

Financial systems meet industry standards. Financial reports are up

to date and provide the data needed by the board and senior

managers responsible for the agency’s financial strength and

viability.

Operational manuals exist for key administrative systems and are

easily accessible and up to date.

Top program staff have documented their key activities in writing

and have identified another staff person who can carry their duties

in an emergency.

SAMPLE NONPROFIT

Transition/Search Committee Working Session

TBD

4:00pm Welcome/Introductions

 Expectations for this meeting

 Search Process Overview(pg 2)

 Roles/Responsibilities of the Transition/Search Committee(pg 3)

 Preliminary timeline (pg 4)

 Confirming or revising Search/Transition Committee membership

 Considering hiring outside assistance

The Board’s Leadership Role

 How do we ensure the search process is valid and fulfills the board’s

responsibility? What does a valid search process look like for us?

 How do we want the Executive Director/Board relationship to change?

How do we want it to be similar?

 Internal candidates? Board candidates?

 What communications need to happen?

The Next Leader

 What are the big issues/opportunities this leader will face? What are the

critical skills this new leader must possess? (pgs 5-7)

 Is our current compensation competitive?

 Is the current Job Description accurate?

 Do we seek input from community stakeholders, board, staff? (pg 8-10)

 Draft recruiting plan (pg 11)

Next steps

 Finalize timeline

 Set next meeting dates and agenda priorities

 Complete information gathering, as defined

 Review/Finalize Job Description

 Develop ads and promotional strategies

6:00pm Wrap up

Sample Nonprofit

Sustaining Board Leadership

Succession Planning for the Board

In many regards, planning for succession of board leaders is just as difficult as planning for the

succession of staff leaders. Though we always hope to know well in advance when a board

leader will be leaving, in reality careers, family, or illness can often throw well-made plans off

course. In addition, new board leaders need time to learn about the organization, the board

and staff team, and their role – and to learn all this on a part-time, volunteer schedule.

We realize that multiple strategies will be required in order to build and maintain a strong

leadership culture at ____________________.

Key Strategies

 Identifying Leaders – the most informal, watching the board work and observing those

people who bring the passion for our efforts along with leadership skills, organizational

skills, and discipline to get things done.

 Replicating Leaders – each board officer and committee chair is challenged to develop

their own successor and have that person ready before they are needed.

 Recruiting Leaders – as the governance committee is recruiting new candidates, they

are looking for new members who bring leadership experience and skills from other

boards or a similar team environment.

 Leadership Roles – whether heading a special event, a task force, or other short-term

effort, we look for ways that board members and other volunteers can develop and

showcase their leadership skills.

 Learning from Participating – though conventional wisdom suggests that every

conversation have the fewest possible people involved, we open the doors of most

board and committee meetings to any board member who is interested with the hope

that they will develop new interest and learn more about how things work within our

organization.

Putting It Into Action: (Sample Action Steps)

 Every Board Officer and Committee Chair should be able to name at least one person

who would be able, willing, and reasonably prepared to step into their role if they were

unable to continue.

 We will put into practice the identification of the next board chair one year prior to the

time they will take office and build a culture of strong leadership.

Assembling Key Staff Contingency Plans

Please complete the following questions/blanks to organize key information about your current

roles and responsibilities. We are trying to take a minimalist approach but if you have additional

information to provide or have assembled procedures for many of the things that you do,

please attach that material with this submission.

The current thinking is that this information will be reviewed and updated with your immediate

supervisor annually as part of the performance evaluation process.

Name________________________ Job Title _____________________________

1) In the chart below, please begin by listing the various areas of responsibility where you

spend most of your time, or that are unique to you(no one else in the organization does it).

2) For each of those roles, note the person or people who would cover for you in an

unexpected absence, this might be similar to how coverage is handled when you take a

vacation and should presume that you are not easily reached by phone.

3) If you have not yet identified a way to cover this responsibility in your absence or you have

identified a person to cover but need to train that person, please add that note.

1) Key Role/Responsibility

2) Who could provide

interim coverage?

3) What preparation,

documentation or cross-training

is needed?

4) If you were out for more than 30 days, what would be the greatest challenges to covering

your area? What guidance can you offer about who should be involved in covering until you

return and what they need to know or do?

5) What Key people or organizations does this position work with that no one else works with?

Name/Title

Organization

E-mail and Phone#

6) In addition to the people listed in Q#5 above, what is the list of people/organizations that

need to be informed in case of your serious illness or departure?

Name/Title

Organization

E-mail and Phone#

7) Please spend a few minutes looking at your calendar to briefly note your recurring

responsibilities and outline an annual calendar of major responsibilities and deadlines –

don’t try to fill every box.

Things I do every week

 .



Things I do every month

 .



Annual Calendar

Month

Key Tasks/Projects/Events

Key Deadlines

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Successor Development

 Who are the high potential people on your team right now? What makes them stand

out? What would have the greatest impact on their growth and increase their likelihood

to stay with us?

Please submit this form to your Executive Director/CEO with a copy of your most recent Job

Description and any other information that is pertinent to someone covering your role in your

absence.