Five Good Ideas on surviving succession: How to guide a founder-led non-profit into its next chapter

Most succession plans skip the hardest part: the human side. Founder transitions aren’t just strategic; they’re emotional, complicated, and deeply personal. In this session, Annie Kidder, one of the founders of People for Education and recently retired, offers a founder’s-eye view of what really happens during succession – what works, what hurts, what to let go of, and how to steer a founder-led organization into a future where it can continue to thrive.

Five Good Ideas 

1. Get a therapist 

2. Identify foundational organizational values and beliefs and then build a new path forward 

3. Determine where the founder adds value and where they have to get out of the way 

4. Let go 

5. Celebrate 

Resources 

• Imagine Canada: Good governance and leadership in founder-led organizations
• Claire Forster: Five Good Ideas for making organizational change work 
• Charity Village: When it’s time for founders to exit 
• Ivy Exec: How to leave gracefully when you’re the face of the company 
• The Bridgespan Group: 10 things departing nonprofit CEOs should do to manage their exits