Nonprofit succession plan template

The document behind Nonprofit succession plan: four pages, emergency first. Four pages, emergency first, with the signature line on the fourth. No email required.

What is in it

Page one is the emergency plan. A line for the interim leader’s name and title, then two short lists: what the interim can decide alone, and what needs board sign-off first, each with a blank for the dollar limit your board sets. Below it sits the critical access sheet, six columns: system, purpose, current owner, where the credential lives, who else can authorize a reset, and last reviewed. It never has a column for the password itself.

Page two is the 30 day communications plan. A four row table, same as the one in the guide: same day, within 48 hours, within one week, and by day 30, each with who is told, who delivers it, and a blank line for the message. Below it, a short reminder that nobody outside their row hears the news early, social media included.

Page three is the planned departure timeline. A seven row table from the day notice is given through the new leader’s first 90 days, with a typical timing column already filled in and a blank column for your dates. Under it, three lines for the overlap decision: whether there is one, how long, and who has final decision authority during it.

Page four is the annual review. Three checkboxes, is the interim still right, are the limits still right, is the access sheet current, then a signature line for the board chair and the date, and a fifth line for the board leadership succession question if your board is ready to add it.

The file is a Word document. Open it in Google Docs with no loss. It prints on four sides of letter paper.

How to use it

Fill it in once as a board exercise, then open it only to review or to use it.

1. Board chair, executive director, and finance lead agree the interim’s authority limits and fill in page one together. This meeting is the one that matters most.
2. The executive director builds the access sheet from the current system list, working from a technology inventory if one exists. Store the completed sheet with the board chair and the interim, not only with the executive director.
3. Fill in the communications table with real names, not roles. “The development director” is not a plan; “Priya Shah” is.
4. Leave the planned departure timeline blank until you need it. The typical timing column is enough to build from when a notice is given.
5. Put the annual review on the same board meeting as the executive director’s evaluation. Answer the three questions out loud and re-sign page four every year.

Keep the signed pages with the board chair, the interim leader, and one copy in the same place the bylaws live.

When not to use it

Do not use it if two people already hold every credential and signing authority between them and both sit on the board. Write their names on one line and stop.

Do not fill it in while a merger, an affiliation, or a wind-down is under discussion. Wait until that decision is settled, because the interim authority and the search timeline both assume the organization continues as it is.

Do not use the planned departure page for an immediate exit. Build the emergency page first, stabilize the interim arrangement, and come back to the timeline once the organization is past the first 48 hours.

And do not let this stand in for a founder succession conversation. A founder who has never separated their own role from the organization needs a longer process before a four page plan will hold.