Until It’s Too Late
A Mission-Aligned Framework for Nonprofit Succession Planning
By Valerie F. Leonard, Founder, Nonprofit Utopia, LLC
When a beloved organization loses its founder — whether to retirement, illness, or death — we find out very quickly what was actually built. Was it an institution with systems, shared leadership, and a bench deep enough to carry the mission forward? Or was it a platform built around one extraordinary person, whose departure leaves the organization unable to recognize itself? We are watching this play out in the nonprofit sector right now. And the hard truth is: most organizations are not prepared. BoardSource conducted a nonprofit governance survey and found that only 27% of nonprofit organizations have a written succession plan in place.
Leadership transitions handled poorly — or left unplanned — can disrupt programs, weaken community trust, and threaten long-term sustainability. But handled well, they can create opportunities for renewal, growth, and deeper alignment with mission and values.
This article draws on frameworks developed by Nonprofit Utopia, LLC and Aly Sterling, Founder of Aly Sterling Philanthropy, to give you a practical, mission-grounded roadmap for building succession planning into your organization before you need it.
Reframing Succession Planning
Succession planning is “not just about replacing people — it is about building systems, culture, and capacity that endure beyond any one leader.”
That reframe matters. When succession planning is understood as people replacement, it feels morbid and optional. When it is understood as organizational capacity building — as an act of love for the mission — it becomes a leadership imperative.
According to Aly Sterling, organizations without a succession plan open themselves up to serious performance risk and face the very real possibility of losing the support of board members and donors if they are unable to effectively bridge the knowledge gap after a key leader departs.
Start Where It Matters Most: Mission Alignment
What distinguishes mission-aligned succession planning from ordinary succession planning is where it begins. It does not begin with org charts or job descriptions. It begins with your mission, your vision, and your core values — and works outward from there.
Nonprofit Utopia’s Mission-Aligned Transitions framework establishes a clear hierarchy: your mission is why you exist, your vision is how the world changes because of your work; your core values are your moral compass; your goals are what you intend to accomplish to further your mission; your objectives indicate the steps you will take to achieve your goals and your strategies are those actions you will take to meet goals and objectives. Your succession planning must flow directly from all six. The leaders you develop and the systems you build should reflect — and protect — that foundation.
Source: Leonard, V.F. (2025). Mission-Aligned Transitions. Nonprofit Utopia, LLC.
This means that succession planning is not a standalone HR exercise. It is a strategic imperative — and it should be embedded in your strategic planning process, your board governance, and your organizational culture.
The Three Types of Succession Plans Every Nonprofit Needs
Aly Sterling’s model of succession planning suggests that there are three distinct types of succession planning — and every organization needs all three.
| Strategic Leadership Planning | Emergency Transition | Planned Departure | ||
| Develops internal talent and prepares staff for future leadership roles. Integrated into strategic planning — aligns leadership skills and capabilities with the organization’s strategic direction. | Addresses unplanned departures caused by death, sudden resignation, or unexpected job changes. Designates interim leadership, authority level, reporting structure, and immediate priorities. | Anticipates retirement, sabbatical, or leave announced 1–3 years in advance. Allows for intentional search, comprehensive knowledge transfer, and supported onboarding. |
Most organizations, if they have anything at all, have only considered the planned departure scenario. The emergency transition plan is the most neglected and arguably the most critical. Your board should be able to answer — right now, without calling you — who steps in, what authority they hold, and what gets prioritized first.
Which Roles Require Succession Planning?
Aly Sterling reminds us that every role requires some form of succession planning — but “the higher the level, the more planning you need, and the more critical the role of succession planning becomes.“ The three most commonly prioritized roles are the Board Chair, the Executive Director, and other high-level positions.
Board chair succession deserves special emphasis. A governance vacuum at the board level during an executive transition is one of the most destabilizing scenarios a nonprofit can face. Both roles need succession plans — and both plans need to be maintained simultaneously.
Before You Plan, Assess
One of the distinctive contributions of Nonprofit Utopia’s Mission-Aligned Transitions framework is the insistence that succession planning begin with an honest organizational assessment — not just an evaluation of leadership roles, but a full picture of organizational capacity within the context of its strategic planning. As in the case of the strategic planning process, the transition planning process must anticipate community needs, changing dynamics and unique positioning.
Nonprofit Utopia’s proprietary organizational assessment tool evaluates organizational health across seven domains: board governance, financial management, fundraising, human resources, program impact, program management, and community networking. Organizations that make the investment in building organizational capacity are more likely to be in a position to sustain themselves over the long term.
This matters for succession planning because a leader transition does not happen in a vacuum. It happens inside an organization with specific strengths, specific gaps, and specific vulnerabilities. Your succession plan needs to account for the full organizational picture — not just the person leaving.
Five Areas Your Succession Plan Must Address
Sterling outlines a five-pronged approach to succession planning.
1. Define and Document Every Leadership Role
Begin by reviewing job descriptions and the performance history of each key role. Then ask: given where the organization wants to go strategically, does the job description still fit? A leadership transition is one of the rare moments when you can redesign a role without disrupting someone who currently holds it.
Nonprofit Utopia’s Leadership Role Mapping framework structures this process by asking teams to identify each role’s key responsibilities, strategic contributions, alignment with core values, and the organizational risks if the position is vacant. The risk component is usually where organizations often encounter the most important and most uncomfortable truths.
2. Assess Your Human Resources Capabilities
Succession planning requires a clear-eyed assessment of your organization’s human resources health — not just headcount, but depth. Nonprofit Utopia’s Mission Aligned Transitions framework assesses four key attributes: leadership capabilities, talent pipeline, working styles and culture, and training and development opportunities.
The critical reflection question: which gap most threatens your leadership continuity? Answer that honestly — and that becomes your most urgent succession planning priority.
3. Document Every Critical Process
If your programs, fundraising processes, and operational systems live primarily in one person’s head, you have a succession planning emergency — regardless of whether a transition is imminent. Sterling is explicit: organizations must “document every process within the organization, whether it pertains to a program, day-to-day operations, fundraising, etc.”
This is organizational memory. It is what allows the next leader to step into a house that is already standing — rather than having to rebuild from scratch.
4. Groom Leaders from Within
The questions every organization must ask include: Who is being groomed for leadership? What skills do they have? What additional training is necessary? Are there mentoring opportunities? What stretch assignments are helping them develop their own leadership capacity?
Nonprofit Utopia’s Talent Development tool operationalizes this assertion by identifying potential leaders by name, documenting their strengths and development needs, and mapping specific growth opportunities — mentoring, training, and special assignments — to each person.
5. Build and Execute a Succession Roadmap
Succession planning without a roadmap is just intention. Nonprofit Utopia’s Mission-Aligned Transitions workbook includes a 12-month Action Planning tool that translates succession planning goals into specific tasks, strategic alignment notes, responsible parties, due dates, and status tracking.
Sterling identifies three elements that maximize the chances of a successful transition: expert strategic planning support, comprehensive onboarding, and ongoing performance management. Together, these ensure that the plan doesn’t end with the hire — it continues until the new leader is fully equipped to carry the mission forward.
Your Next Step Starts Now
Write one action you will take in the next 30 days to strengthen mission-aligned leadership transitions. Maybe it is scheduling a board conversation about emergency transition protocols. Maybe it is identifying one high-potential staff member and starting a mentoring relationship. Maybe it is finally documenting the process that only you know how to run. Maybe it is pulling out your strategic plan and asking honestly — does our succession planning reflect where we are trying to go?
Whatever it is — name it. Write it down. And make it a commitment. Because the organizations that last are not built by the most charismatic founders. They are built by founders who loved the mission enough to build it into systems, structures, and people that could carry it forward long after the founder stepped away.That is mission-aligned leadership. And it starts today.
“Not just about surviving leadership transitions — but thriving through them. Emerging stronger, more resilient, and more deeply rooted in mission.” — Mission-Aligned Transitions, Nonprofit Utopia, LLC
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| SOURCES 1. Leonard, V.F. (2025). Mission-Aligned Transitions [Presentation]. Nonprofit Utopia, LLC. www.nonprofitutopia.com 2. Leonard, V.F. (n.d.). Assess Your Organization’s Capacity. Nonprofit Utopia, LLC. www.valeriefleonard.com 3. Leonard, V.F. (n.d.). Resource Mapping on Steroids. Nonprofit Utopia, LLC. www.nonprofitutopia.com 4. Sterling, A. (n.d.). The Basics of Nonprofit Succession Planning. Aly Sterling Philanthropy. www.alysterling.com 5. BoardSource. (n.d.). Nonprofit Governance Index / Succession Planning Survey. www.boardsource.org |
