Moving on After Your Nonprofit’s Founder is Gone
Change is inevitable when a founder steps aside, resigns, or passes away. The future of the organization now lies in the hands of its current members, and some pretty big decisions must be made. Do they continue on the same path as their former leader? Do they go in a completely different direction? No matter what choices are made, preserving the founder’s legacy while pressing ahead is likely to be relevant to the remaining members — especially if they’ve been with the organization since its inception. Keeping a founder’s memory alive, however, should not come at the expense of moving a nonprofit in a new direction, keeping up with the times, or attracting new audiences. Don’t stay stuck in the past reminiscing over the “good ‘ol days.”
A Balancing Act: How One Nonprofit Manages
Ultimately, your nonprofit should be bigger than your founder. Balancing a nonprofit’s past with the future is not impossible. The Texas Instrument Foundation, a non-profit organization providing philanthropic support for educational and charitable purposes, is just one example proving it can be done. Earlier this year, the nonprofit launched several philanthropic fellowships that provide three annual nonprofit work experiences to university or graduate students planning a nonprofit career. The foundation’s founders inspired the fellowships.
“Our founders created a legacy of deep community involvement and giving back,” said Andy Smith, executive director of the TI Foundation. “That legacy has strongly influenced our culture and has inspired decades of community service by TIers around the world. We want to honor their passion and commitment to making a difference and celebrate their generosity’s impact on our community.”
In pressing forward, the foundation has stayed true to its mission of giving back through new charitable opportunities. Incorporating its founders’ legacies into those opportunities makes the foundation’s latest community contribution more relevant and meaningful.
Ways to Honor your Founder’s Legacy
Of course, there are other ways to honor your founder’s legacy without stalling your organization or preventing it from continued growth as well. Some other ideas include:
- Create an awareness campaign and then allow people to share stories about the founder to build awareness about what the organization has done and its impact since it was started.
- Creating an endowment in the founder’s name
- Creating an award program in their name to recognize others who embody the founder’s ideals
- Creating a scholarship in the founder’s name
- Creating a physical memorial
- Creating a memorial fund
- Creating a Legacy Society
- Hosting an anniversary event in honor of the founder
What are some ways you have honored a founder’s member while still moving the organization forward? What challenges have you come up against? Leave a comment. We’d love to hear them.
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Blog post by Alizah T. Epstein
Alizah founded the Epstein Creative Group — a creative communications firm — with the purpose of using design for the greater good. They provide branding, marketing, and strategic communications support to nonprofit organizations that want to improve our community, with a focus on women’s and children’s issues. She is also a speaker and mentor to nonprofits and women entrepreneurs. Through the Epstein Creative Group, Alizah has built a team of passionate, creative professionals who work on strategic branding and marketing projects that secure more donors and build awareness so these organizations can continue the good work that they do. To learn more, visit epsteincreative.com. Design with purpose.