Succession Planning While Thriving: Why the Best EDs Plan Their Exit

Recently, I sat across from an executive director who’d been with her organization for twelve years. Beloved by her board, respected by her staff, celebrated by her funders. She was doing everything right—except one thing. When I asked about succession planning, she physically recoiled. “I’m not going anywhere,” she said. “Why would I even bring that up?”

Three weeks later, her mother had a stroke. She needed to relocate across the country, immediately. The organization she loved was left scrambling.

Here’s what I’ve learned after working with nonprofit executive directors through countless transitions: succession planning isn’t about leaving. It’s about loving your organization enough to ensure it thrives whether you’re there or not.

The Risk Management Reframe

Most EDs I work with avoid succession planning because they think it signals doubt about their commitment or plants seeds of instability. I understand that fear. But let me offer you a different lens: succession planning is risk management, not departure planning.

According to BoardSource research, only 27% of nonprofits have a written succession plan. Think about that. Nearly three-quarters of organizations are one unexpected event away from organizational chaos—and the event doesn’t even have to be dramatic. Health crises, family emergencies, career opportunities, burnout—life happens, and it rarely sends advance notice.

When you develop a succession plan, you’re not announcing your departure. You’re demonstrating sophisticated ED lifecycle planning that marks you as a strategic leader who thinks beyond tomorrow’s crisis.

Succession planning isn’t planning to leave—it’s planning to ensure your mission outlives any single person.

The Three Succession Timelines

Effective succession planning addresses three distinct scenarios, and your organization needs preparation for all of them:

Emergency Succession: What happens if you can’t come to work tomorrow? Not hypothetically—literally tomorrow. Who has your passwords? Who knows which donors require personal touches? Who can sign checks and access the bank accounts? The National Council of Nonprofits emphasizes that emergency succession planning addresses the timely delegation of duties when there’s an unexpected leadership interruption.

This isn’t morbid—it’s responsible. I’ve seen organizations nearly collapse because the ED was the only person who knew where critical documents lived or how to access certain systems. One ED I worked with literally kept the organization’s donor database password in her head. When she had an unexpected medical emergency, the development team couldn’t even send acknowledgment letters for three weeks.

Strategic Succession: This is planning that happens when you know you’ll be transitioning in the next 18-36 months. Maybe you’re approaching retirement, considering a career shift, or recognizing that your skill set served the organization well through its startup phase but it now needs different leadership for its next chapter. Strategic succession allows you to build bench strength, document institutional knowledge, and set your successor up for success.

I worked with an ED who gave his board two years’ notice before his planned retirement. That timeline allowed him to mentor his deputy director, document every relationship and system, and gradually shift visibility to his successor. When he left, donors and funders already knew and trusted the incoming leader. The transition was nearly seamless.

Departure Succession: This is the detailed transition plan that activates once you’ve announced your departure. It covers everything from communication strategies to transition timelines, from your ongoing role (if any) to how institutional knowledge gets preserved.

Failure Pattern: The Indispensable ED

I need to tell you about Sarah (not her real name). She founded a youth services organization that grew from a kitchen-table operation to a $3 million budget. She was brilliant—the vision behind every program, the relationship holder with every major donor, the decision-maker on every significant issue.

She was also exhausted. But when her board suggested succession planning, she resisted. “No one else can do what I do,” she said. And she was right—because she’d never let anyone else try.

When Sarah finally burned out and resigned abruptly, the organization nearly collapsed. Three board members quit. Two major donors pulled funding. Staff morale plummeted. It took the organization three years to recover, and the mission suffered throughout.

Here’s the hard truth: if your organization can’t function without you, you haven’t built an organization—you’ve built a dependency. And that’s not a legacy; it’s a liability.

The antidote is building bench strength. Identify 2-3 internal candidates who could step into your role with appropriate support. This doesn’t mean they’re ready today—it means you’re deliberately developing them. Cross-train. Delegate significant projects. Let them lead board presentations. Share relationship management. Document your knowledge.

When I work with EDs on leadership development and succession planning, we start by identifying what makes the ED feel indispensable—then systematically making that knowledge and those relationships transferable. It’s uncomfortable at first. But it’s also incredibly freeing.

Building Bench Strength Without Broadcasting Departure

Here’s the concern I hear most: “If I start developing a successor, won’t everyone think I’m leaving?”

No—if you frame it correctly. Here’s what I tell boards and EDs: developing leadership capacity is what healthy organizations do. Call it leadership development. Call it professional growth. Call it organizational sustainability.

Start with your deputy director or senior staff. Create stretch assignments that build executive-level skills. Have them lead strategic planning sessions. Give them visibility with funders. Include them in board meetings. Send them to executive development programs. Support their transition coaching as they develop new capabilities.

One ED I coached created a “chief of staff” role specifically to develop internal leadership capacity. She was transparent with her board: “We’re building bench strength as part of our succession planning, but I’m not planning to leave in the immediate future.” The board applauded her foresight. Two years later, when an unexpected opportunity arose, they had a ready internal candidate who knew the organization intimately.

The healthiest organizations have leaders who know when to stay and when to go—and who prepare the organization for both scenarios.

The Succession Conversation: How to Raise It Without Alarm

You need to talk about succession planning with your board—but how you frame it matters enormously.

Don’t start with: “I’ve been thinking about leaving…”

Instead, try: “As part of our strategic risk management, I’d like to work with the board to develop a comprehensive succession plan. This isn’t about my immediate departure—it’s about ensuring organizational resilience and sustainability regardless of timing.”

Position succession planning in your board’s governance responsibility. It’s part of their fiduciary duty. Frame it around these principles:

• Risk mitigation: What happens in an emergency?
• Strategic planning: How do we ensure leadership capacity matches our strategic direction?
• Staff development: How do we create career pathways that retain talent?
• Organizational health: How do we measure our sustainability?

I recommend EDs work with their board chair to introduce succession planning as a standing governance topic, reviewed annually. This normalizes the conversation and removes the drama. When it’s a routine governance practice, nobody panics.

The board’s role in this work is significant. They need to be ready with board’s role in succession planning, understanding their responsibilities in the process while supporting—not undermining—current leadership.

Documentation: Your Love Letter to the Next Leader

Here’s what keeps me up at night: the vast amount of institutional knowledge that lives only in EDs’ heads. The donor who prefers phone calls over email. The funder who values certain data points. The board member who needs extra lead time for decisions. The historical context behind current programs.

Start documenting now. Create living documents that cover:

Relationship Maps: Who are your key relationships? What’s the history? What are their preferences and quirks? Which donors respond to which appeals? Which funders care about which outcomes?

Systems and Processes: Where are passwords stored? How do critical processes work? What are the annual rhythms and deadlines? Who are the external partners and contacts?

Institutional History: Why were certain decisions made? What’s been tried before? What are the unspoken organizational norms? What’s the mission-critical context a newcomer wouldn’t know?

Strategic Priorities: Where is the organization headed? What are the key opportunities and challenges? What’s working and what needs attention?

I once worked with an ED who created a “transition binder” that she updated quarterly. When she eventually left, her successor told me it was worth its weight in gold—months of learning compressed into a comprehensive guide.

Failure Pattern: The Surprise Departure

Let me tell you about Marcus. He’d been planning to leave for six months but hadn’t told anyone. He wanted to line up his next opportunity first, didn’t want to be a “lame duck,” worried about how the news would affect fundraising.

When he finally announced—with 30 days notice—it was chaos. The board had to scramble to form a search committee. Staff morale plummeted. Donors started asking questions. Major decisions got delayed. The organization lost momentum at a critical growth moment.

Here’s what Marcus didn’t realize: the transition was going to happen whether he planned for it or not. By trying to control the message through secrecy, he actually created the very instability he was trying to avoid.

Contrast that with Elena, who gave her board 18 months notice. Yes, there was initial anxiety. But then the board activated a thoughtful succession plan. They hired executive transition coaching for both Elena and her eventual successor. Elena had time to document everything, mentor her replacement, and transition relationships. Staff had time to process the change. Donors received personal attention throughout.

When Elena left, people cried—but the organization didn’t skip a beat.

The difference wasn’t the departures. It was the preparation.

Your Professional Development Plan: Preparing for What’s Next

Here’s something most succession planning resources miss: succession planning isn’t just about your organization’s future—it’s about yours too.

Whether you stay in your role for two more years or twenty, you need a professional development plan. What skills are you building? What experiences are you seeking? What’s your own career trajectory?

This might seem self-focused, but it’s actually incredibly important for healthy tenure decision-making. When you have clarity about your own professional growth and trajectory, you can make better decisions about when to stay and when to go.

Some questions I ask EDs to reflect on annually:

• Am I still growing in this role?
• Does this work still energize me more than it depletes me?
• Are my skills well-matched to what the organization needs next?
• Do I have at least three more years of passion and energy for this work?
• What would I need to learn or change to stay another 3-5 years?

Your irreplaceability is your organization’s greatest risk—and your own professional stagnation.

Healthy Tenure Planning: Knowing When to Stay Versus Go

This is perhaps the most delicate part of succession planning: recognizing when your season is coming to an end.

Here are patterns I’ve observed in healthy ED transitions:

Good reasons to stay longer:

• You’re energized by the work and still growing
• Your skills match the organization’s current needs
• You have a clear vision for the next 3-5 years
• The organization is healthy and stable
• You’re building capacity in others, not hoarding it

Good reasons to start planning your exit:

• You’re more depleted than energized
• The organization needs different skills than you possess
• You’re maintaining rather than innovating
• You’re the bottleneck more often than the catalyst
• You’re thinking about your next chapter more than your current one

There’s no shame in recognizing it’s time for a change. In fact, that self-awareness is a mark of mature leadership. The EDs I most admire are the ones who can say, “I’ve taken this organization as far as I can. It’s time for new leadership to take it further.”

I once coached an ED who recognized after fifteen years that the organization needed someone with development expertise—not her strength—for its next growth phase. She worked with her board to make a graceful exit and helped recruit her successor. Three years later, she told me it was one of the best decisions she’d ever made—for herself and for the organization.

Making It Real: Your Succession Planning Quick Win

Want to start succession planning this week without triggering alarm? Here’s your quick win:

Draft your own succession planning criteria. Based on your job description, strategic plan, and organizational needs, create a profile of what your successor would need:

• What skills and experience?
• What leadership qualities?
• What relationships and networks?
• What gaps in your own skill set should they fill?

Share this with your board chair as a conversation starter: “I’ve been thinking about succession planning as part of our governance responsibilities. Here’s a draft of what I think the next ED would need. Can we discuss this and begin developing a formal succession plan?”

This approach demonstrates leadership, not departure anxiety. You’re being strategic, not dramatic.