According to a 2015 Stanford Business School study, 78% of nonprofits were not prepared to name a permanent successor immediately if their executive director entered the witness protection program tomorrow, and on average organizations thought it would take them 112 days to find the replacement. This is why we have the rare professional known as the “interim executive director”, and we spoke with Lynne Molnar who has spent much of her professional life coaching organizations through these difficult transitions, screening prospective interims, training prospective interims, and being an interim herself.

Without a doubt, the best time to engage board members is when they first join the board, and orientation should play a critical role in the process. This Bonus Break will help you develop a more effective orientation process for your board.

The nonprofit sector is known for long work hours, where our passion and excitement for the mission seem to be a sustaining source of energy. But eventually, failing to care of ourselves takes a toll on our passion and every other aspect of our lives. Imagine if it was possible to have an impact without burnout? On this episode of the Successful Nonprofits Podcast, we speak with Beth Kanter, co-author of The Happy Health Nonprofit about how organizations can actually achieve both impact and happy employees who balance work and personal lives.

Four contemplations on compensation to help you receive the highest possible salary for the contributions you make to your organization.

I’ve been thinking a lot about stories lately after reading an incredible book titled: The Story Telling Nonprofit by Vanessa Chase Lockshin. This is a practical guide to telling stories that raise money and awareness, and the Amazon reviews for this book are incredible. I found the book useful, and felt strongly that the principles Vanessa lays out in the book can be used whether you are in the nonprofit, for-profit, and government sectors. Our conversation with Vanessa Chase Lockshin includes: ➢ How nonprofits can use stories ➢ Identifying your audience and why create a faux person ➢ Elements of a good story And more! Be certain to download this episode and start writing more compelling stories for your nonprofit!

All too often, a new executive director runs from their job screaming (or with the board screaming at them). In fact, I’ve actually been known to congratulate executive directors who reach their two year anniversary by saying, “In my experience, those E.D.’s who last two years often enjoy successful tenures of 5 – 10 years.” There are many reasons why some executive directors don’t succeed during their initial two years. And an unsuccessful executive director is never the fault of just the unfortunate person who takes a job only to leave it 15 months later. To help understand how organizations can ensure a successful executive transition, we spoke with Kim Powell. Kim, who is with ghSmart, is a consultant and career coach who has advised CEOs and senior managers of Fortune 500 companies seeing transformational change through their corporate strategies. A few of the highlights from our conversation include: ➢ The 5 behaviors that make up the genome of a successful CEO genome ➢ Preparing to move past an iconic or founding leader ➢ Creating a 100-day launch plan and setup your new CEO for a successful tenure ➢ Developing a strong relationship between the board chair and CEO

Five of our 2016 guests share their New Years resolutions, and our host shares tips for keeping your own resolutions.

5-minute episode with meditations on finding meaningful work and suggestions for enjoying the job search

It's the week before Christmas and New Year, and this is our 25th episode. At this time of year we often get to enjoy some well-deserved "down time" after the presents are opened, the leftovers are stored, and all the candy has been eaten. Many people use this down time to determine their New Years resolutions, and many resolutions relate to finding or being better at the work we love. For this reason, we combined our two most popular conversations about career building into one great episode.

We bring you a featured conversation about social enterprise with Paul Lamb. As part of our conversation, we discussed: • Understanding the culture shift that may need to occur within a nonprofit • Developing a tolerance for risk and delayed return on investment • Recruiting the right professionals to manage and grow the social enterprise • Finding the capital necessary to start a social enterprise