Successful transitions often involve keeping founders involved, study shows

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/nba.30449
• Published date: 01 May 2018
• Date: 01 May 2018

NONPROFIT BUSINESS ADVISOR MAY 2018

6© 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., A Wiley Company • All rights reserved

DOI: 10.1002/nba

Industry News

Successful transitions often involve keeping

founders involved, study shows

Many nonprots struggle with succession plan-

ning, especially when it’s the organization’s founder

that is moving on and being replaced with another

leader� But while conventional wisdom has held that

a “clean break” is often best in these cases—allowing

the new executive to operate without the stress of the

founder looking over his or her shoulders—that may

not be the case after all�

In “Making Founder Successions Work,” pub-

lished recently in the Stanford Social Innovation

Review, researchers from the Bridgespan Group

reveal some interesting conclusions from an in-depth

study of nonprot founder transitions� Among the

key ndings:

• More nonprot boards work out a continuing

role for founders (45 percent) than pursue an amicable

clean break (31 percent)�

• Transitions that paired a founder and successor

from inside the organization proved to be the most

successful of all transition models�

• Involuntary breaks (24 percent), where founders

are ousted by the board, tend to be the least success-

ful�

“Bridgespan’s research indicates that an extended

founder role, when done right, can be the best path

to maintain funder, board and staff loyalty, while

allowing the new leader to benet from the founder’s

capabilities and knowledge,” said Jari Tuomala,

coauthor of the study, along with Donald Yeh and

Katie Smith Milway�

“Everyone wins, including the organizations and,

AFP launches gender inequality initiative

The Association of Fundraising Professionals

has launched a new campaign aimed at increasing

gender equality in the profession� The AFP’s Wom-

en’s Impact Initiative will address issues of gender

inequity in the fundraising profession and charitable

sector more broadly, including sexual harassment,

salary inequality and the lack of women in senior

leadership roles, the group said�

The two-year campaign will assess, address and

highlight the specic issues and challenges women in

the fundraising profession face, the AFP said� The

initiative’s objectives will be focused on research,

education, awareness, and guidance and support�

It will culminate with a Women’s Impact Summit

in 2019�

“Women make up approximately 70 percent of

the fundraising profession, but account for only

about 30 percent of fundraising leadership roles

throughout the charitable sector,” said Ann Hale,

chairperson of the AFP, in a statement announc-

ing the initiative� “AFP’s own Compensation and

Benets Report has shown that female salaries are

consistently $20,000 less than salaries for our male

counterparts� The issue of inequity—along with re-

lated issues such as implicit bias and harassment—is

critical if we are to have a diverse, fair, vibrant and

growing fundraising profession�”

The rst major component of the initiative will

be the release of a comprehensive survey about

sexual harassment in the profession, which included

over 1,000 fundraisers across the United States and

Canada� Set for release in early April and to be

highlighted at the AFP’s International Fundrais-

ing Conference later that month, the survey data

will be used to develop anti–sexual harassment

resources for the profession and made available to

AFP members and nonmembers�

The initiative will also include educational mate-

rials and resources, research and calls to action to

engage the profession featured on the WII website

at http://afpidea.org/wii�

The initiative is the rst campaign under the

AFP’s new IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and

Access) Impact Program, which aims to remove

the leadership gap in the fundraising profession by

engaging, training and supporting different diverse

communities as they move into the profession� The

program and its initiatives will work to create a

fundraising profession that is not only diverse, but

inclusive and equitable, the AFP said�

For more information, visit http://www�afpnet�

org� ■

(See TRANSITIONS on page 8)