Building a Pipeline of Interim Executive Directors

Last year at Mission Capital, we began a process to align our Interim Executive Director program both to national best practices and our new strategic plan. This is one of our legacy programs and, after a year of research and analysis that included benchmarking it with seven other national leaders and peers in the social sector, we are working to bring it back in a way that best serves our community. 

This process gave us the opportunity to refocus our work and, most importantly, to make sure that the program targets all three of our three strategic plan goals: 

• Close the Racial Leadership Gap in the Social Sector 

  This program will focus on this goal in two ways – identifying qualified interim executive directors and working within the social sector. We will be identifying candidates with real world experience and through a broader network and partnerships. Additionally, we will work to actively listen to the nonprofit and staff on their needs to connect them with interim executive directors to address those needs.

• Increase Organizational Resilience & Sustainability 

  Times of transition are often the most fraught for a nonprofit balancing their programming and leadership change. We will relieve some of the concerns that a board, staff, and funders experience during executive changeovers by identifying and supporting interim executive directors who can quickly and efficiently step in to manage the day-to-day operations of an organization. 

• Expand & Strengthen the Capacity of Collaborative Network 

  Interim executive directors range from previous leaders who took a step out of the nonprofit space to longstanding nonprofit executives who are transitioning into retirement. For the interim leader, this program can be a steppingstone back into the sector or a time to manage a nonprofit in a different part of the organization lifecycle than they have experience. For others it might be an opportunity to leverage their experience to bring a steady hand and calm to a board and staff. Whatever the reason for the interim executive director, we are connecting staff, executive leaders, interim leaders, boards, and community members to learn from each other’s experiences. Building this social capital within the community is essential to our mission. 

The evolution of this program is by no means finished, we will continue to iterate and find new opportunities to make it better both for the candidates and nonprofit organizations. An immediate need that we are trying to tackle for now is identifying a pipeline of potential Interim Executive Directors.  

We currently have a few groups interested in filling out roles like this, and our goal is to build a roster of qualified, capable, and interested candidates that want to support them and other organizations that may follow. With our experience from consulting services, trainings, facilitations, and direct feedback from members, we know that this need exists long-term. Building the roster now will allow us to be ready to support these organizations, while also creating an intentional, proactive, and thoughtful approach for the future.

If this is something that interests you, we are collecting the following materials: 

• An updated or recent biography (any length is fine)

• A current resume or CV

• Any current restrictions we should be mindful of (this could be location, remote vs in-person, timing of when you can take a role, etc.)

You can email these to me at MattG@MissionCapital.org and we will add your information to the roster we are building. Additionally, if you know of any other potential candidates that would be interested in this opportunity, please either let us know or feel free to forward this request to them as well. 

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out and thank you so much for everything you do for our community! 

The work that we’ve done to revamp this program was possible thanks to the support of the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation.