Home | About TransitionGuides & Our Services | Events | Newsletter | Ask Us a Question | Need Transition Help Now? | Executive Jobs |

Opportunities for Foundations and Other Funders

Leadership transitions can make or break organizations. Most executive transitions are non-routine and involve heightened stress and risk. Thoughtfully attended to, executive and key board transitions can be a pivotal juncture that results in clarified organization direction, clearly articulated leadership goals, substantial gains in program and management capacity, and improved ability to deliver on outcomes.

Investments in executive transition services can:

• Protect your investments in mission-critical organizations;

• Improve the capacity of your grantees; and

• Help the nonprofit sector weather a sea change as its current, well-established generation of leadership retires.

Until recently, funders dared not get involved in grantee leadership transitions. The risk of being perceived as intrusive or overbearing was too great. Most funders took a hands-off attitude to leadership transitions.

Those days are over. As exiting baby-boomers increase the number and complexity of transitions, support for research and development of executive transition services is growing and paying dividends. Over the past 10 years, support from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Lucille and David Packard Foundation, the Baltimore and San Francisco Community Foundations and other local funders, has produced a highly-evolved model of executive transition services that has a proven track record with hundred of organizations. (See the Benefits page for more about the impressive track record and results from this work.)

What Your Foundation Can Do

• Fund grantees to enable them to take advantage of professional executive transition services;

• Build the capacity and availability of local or regional service providers;

• Support the dissemination of best practices and other learnings from research in this area; and

• Promote awareness of the concept of executive transition services and their importance.

How TransitionGuides Can Help

TransitionGuides is a leader in the development and growth of executive transition services. Through management of transition projects for the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Maryland Association of Nonprofits and collaboration with CompassPoint Nonprofit Services in research and training, TransitionGuides has developed a comprehensive menu of services for foundations and other funders that include:

• Design and delivery of leadership surveys and services planning;
• Guidance in designing transition support for grantee organizations;
• Contract delivery of training, consulting; and coaching services for funder-selected organizations, executives, board leaders or potential executives.

A survey of community foundations CEOs finds that 55% anticipate leaving their current position within 5 years.  Click below to read the summary or full report. (PDF)
Summary | Full Report

First in a series of
Casey monographs
on executive transitions

Capturing the Power of
Leadership Change

“Capturing the Power of Leadership Change” is the first volume of a new monograph series on executive transitions and executive transition management, funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund. The series is a joint effort of TransitionGuides and CompassPoint Nonprofit Services.
To read, click here. (PDF file)

Interested in learning more about executive transition management as a tool for building capacity?  Please call us at (301) 439-6635.

TransitionGuides
1751 Elton Road, Suite 204 | Silver Spring, MD 20903
Phone 301-439-6635 | Fax 301-439-6638
info@transitionguides.com

© 2003-07 TransitionGuides, all rights reserved. Privacy Information.
1/17/03