Nonprofits live or die based on how well they transition to a new executive, a concern as the wave of Baby Boomer retirements continue. In a recent survey, 67 percent of nonprofit executives said that they planned to leave their positions in the next five years, but nearly 60 percent of nonprofits lack a formal succession plan. The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City recognized the need and recently updated and re-released its popular Nonprofit Executive Succession-Planning Toolkit.
The KC Fed toolkit provides timelines and templates to help nonprofits plan for three scenarios:
- It’s an emergency: The executive departs suddenly.
- It’s departure-defined: The executive plans to leave in the future.
- We need to develop leaders: Promoting leadership from within.
The toolkit, which you can preview here, offers information you can use right now, such as:
- Nine steps to take if your executive leaves suddenly;
- Four questions to answer when your executive plans to depart;
- Nine elements of leadership development; and
- Nine barriers to success and how to overcome them.
KC Fed also offers data, funding opportunities and more
The toolkit is one of an array of resources that the KC Fed offers nonprofits. That’s because nonprofits are powerful allies in its mission to encourage community development in low- and moderate-income (LMI) communities. You can see the complete set of resources here. Some are available nationwide, others only in the Tenth District (Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Wyoming, western Missouri and northern New Mexico).
These are just a few of the resources we offer:
- Data about your community, valuable for program development and grant writing:
- LMI Economic Conditions, published twice a year, gives a broad and deep understanding of the economic conditions faced by LMI individuals and communities. It pulls from the KC Fed’s biannual LMI survey, distributed to representatives of organizations that provide services directly to LMI individuals and who regularly interact personally with the LMI population. Sign up here to participate. Map Your Community has interactive maps with lots of local economic and demographic data.
- The chance for funding.
- Through Investment Connection, groups pitch proposals to banks and other funders for community and economic development projects that may be eligible under the Community Reinvestment Act. So far, the program has resulted in new connections and more than $30 million in new funding. It started in the Tenth District, but is growing to include other Reserve Banks.
Most people have a picture of what the Federal Reserve Bank does, but don’t know all of its community development work. Help us change that. If you are planning a conference or workshop in the Tenth District, contact Jennifer Wilding at jennifer.wilding@kc.frb.org to request a presenter from the KC Fed Community Development team.
