Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Workshop urges nonprofit boards to formalize succession plans to avoid costly leadership failures
Summary
At a South Carolina Arts Network workshop, presenter Jenny Waller urged arts and nonprofit boards to write and rehearse succession plans, citing BoardSource and Chronicle of Philanthropy data showing low formal planning and high upcoming turnover; she offered concrete steps for interim leadership, onboarding and stakeholder communication.
Jenny Waller, a former nonprofit executive and interim director, told attendees at a virtual South Carolina Arts Network workshop that many organizations leave themselves exposed by failing to formalize leadership succession.
"If you were hit by the Mac bus," Waller said, using a colloquial image to emphasize sudden loss of leadership, "all of that beautiful succession planning you have in your head goes out the window." She urged boards to convert informal understandings into written plans and rehearsed procedures.
Waller framed the issue with national data: only about 29% of nonprofits report having a written succession plan, she said, and post-pandemic surveys show large numbers of leaders planning…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
