Your First Year as a Nonprofit Leader: A Practical Checklist for New Executive Directors

Whether this is your first time in the top seat or your fifth, your first year as a nonprofit chief executive sets the tone for everything that follows. Here is what I wish someone had told me before I walked in the door—plus a few tips for the board members who want to help their new leader succeed.

1. Ask for a list of 50 people you should meet. Then meet them.

Ask the outgoing executive director, a board member, or a member of the senior staff to help you identify 50 people you should meet or speak with in your first few months. Your goal in these conversations is to pay your respects, learn from their experiences, and start to get a real sense of how people who care about the organization view its past, present, and future.

No one is too old to be included. I’ve often seen—and, being honest, practiced—ageism in the organizations I’ve worked with and for. But, of those individuals who love an organization, it is often the most senior among them who can offer a remarkable understanding of the past and help pave the road to the future.

Some examples:

• Any former executive directors or CEOs who left in good standing
• The founder or any of the founding board members
• Donors who’ve included the organization in their estate plans
• Major donors—but also donors who’ve given any amount consistently over the past 10 or so years
• Senior staff and the management staff who report to them
• Longtime volunteers, junior board, or other affinity group leaders
• Maintenance, housekeeping, and groundskeeping staff—people on the front line of organizations often have the clearest view of what is going on

Be prepared to hear the good, the bad, and the ugly. You’re not there to make promises or sell your vision. You’re there to listen.

After each listening session, before you go to bed that night, send a thank-you email and a paper thank-you note. Let your development team know you’ve done it, then put it in the mail the next morning.

Set aside a couple of hours a week for this work over your first year. It will help you build relationships that matter, and it will deepen your understanding of the institution in ways no document or onboarding memo ever will.

• Pro tip for board members: Help your new chief executive build this list. Make introductions. Then step back. These are their relationships to build now, not yours to manage.

2. Use your first year to lay the groundwork for strategic planning.

The first year is about listening and learning, but it’s also a time to start preparing for a thoughtful strategic planning process in your second year. Just like how the first day in a new house is the right time to make a list of the renovations you’ll get to eventually, your first few months in a new role are the time to capture observations, ideas, and patterns while they’re still fresh. Keep a journal or log.

Be proactive in setting the stage for strategic planning:

• Don’t wait for a donor to ask for a plan
• Don’t wait for the old plan to expire
• Don’t wait for a crisis
• And please don’t wait for a peer organization to unveil their strategic plan to make you feel like you’re behind

Set aside time each week to sketch out what the process might look like. Identify what kind of team you’ll assemble, whether you’ll want a consultant or facilitator, what timeline and tools you’ll need. Perhaps you need to work through some governance issues before setting forth on broader goals and objectives. Your first phase of planning, then, could be to revisit bylaws, set term limits, and clarify donor expectations. This is often a healthy first step of strategic planning.

If it’s your slow season, summer is a good time to sketch out your timeline. Donors and board members are often away, and even if your organization is busy serving your constituents, you can carve out time to think about the big picture. A planning dashboard built specifically for nonprofits can help you structure and track this strategy planning work from the start.

• Pro tip for board members: Ask your new chief executive what planning support they need and mean it when you offer to help. Connect them with consultants, peer networks, or resources. Don’t wait for them to come to you.

3. Always be succession planning.

At some point, each one of us will move along to a new role. We are all replaceable and that’s a good thing. Engaging in succession planning—for your board, your staff, and yourself—is core to leadership. It expands staff capabilities and establishes clear routes for advancement and development.

Part of this mindset also includes staying open to partnerships and even merger opportunities, including ones that might eventually make your role or your nonprofit unnecessary. If your priority is advancing the mission rather than preserving your title, all options should be on the table.

• Pro tip for board members: Model good succession planning yourselves. Are there term limits? Is the board actively developing its next generation of leadership? Your new chief executive is watching how you govern.

4. Understand that advocacy is part of your job.

Advocating for your cause is a core responsibility. That may mean engaging in policy, public education, media relations, or community partnerships. Don’t let anyone tell you that advocacy is outside the land of a 501(c)(3). Helping educate elected and appointed leaders, the public, and the sector about your mission is essential to moving it forward and to passing laws that enable change.

• Pro tip for board members: Use your networks. If you have relationships with elected officials, civic leaders, or media, make the introduction. Your new chief executive needs those doors to be opened.

5. Have a plan for when things go wrong.

Every organization is vulnerable to disruption. If you don’t already have an enterprise risk management plan and some basic scenario planning, make that a priority.

What happens in a flood, a data breach, a public scandal, a financial emergency? How will your board respond? What’s your role? Don’t wait for an actual crisis to figure it out.

Run a tabletop exercise. Update your communications plan and phone tree. Know your local elected and appointed officials from all levels of government and public safety. Talk through and document plans with your leadership team and board. Knowing who will do what under pressure helps everyone react in a crisis.

• Pro tip for board members: Ask to see the risk management plan. If one doesn’t exist, help your new chief executive build one. This is governance, and it belongs to both of you.

6. Don’t reinvent the wheel.

The nonprofit sector is full of excellent resources—many of them free or open-source—developed by great consultants and smart leaders. Use them. Use consent agendas. Use reliable templates for policies and plans. Use standard tools to manage your board, your calendar, your finances. Don’t burn energy building anything from scratch.

7. Gain a working knowledge of your organization’s tech stack.

Right out of the gate, it’s essential to have a basic understanding of the fundraising CRM, financial platforms, and marketing tools your organization already uses. These systems aren’t just background infrastructure. They’re the backbone of your daily operations and long-term growth. Knowing what your tech stack can do helps you make informed decisions, avoid costly missteps, and spot opportunities for efficiency or improvement.

Don’t wait until the contract renewal period. Proactively review how each platform is being used, who’s responsible for maintenance, and whether features are underutilized. Familiarizing yourself with the basics prepares you to ask the right questions so you can negotiate better agreements and build a more accurate tech budget.  

8. Accept that this is a very hard job.

It’s not realistic—or fair—to expect any one person to do this job forever. Executive leadership requires intense stamina. You’ll carry the weight of daily management, long-range planning, and being the emotional center of gravity for an entire institution. That doesn’t mean it’s not worth doing, or that it’s not deeply meaningful. But know what you’re stepping into. Give yourself grace. And build systems and strategies that will help you be strong for the long haul.

A few other things I mean sincerely:

• You’re now the face and voice of the organization. You’ll be navigating complexity, solving problems, building relationships, and sometimes holding things together when they feel like they’re coming apart. You don’t have to be perfect. But you do need to be present, prepared, and principled.
• Know that your board and staff want you to lead. Don’t ask open-ended questions unless you’re ready for the silence—or to deal with the answers. And don’t give your board or staff a list of options unless you’re genuinely fine with any of them being selected.
• Before you ask for anything (especially money), know how much it costs and the answers to every question you can anticipate. Board members are usually not as focused on your organization as you are. That’s not a flaw. That’s just reality.
• Your staff are not your friends. Empower them to do their jobs. Your role is to clear the path—not to micromanage it. Offer clarity, vision, calmness.
• Have a point of view on everything. But keep an open mind.
• The mission should also be your passion. If you don’t like cats, don’t be the execurtive director of a cat shelter. And if you find yourself realizing you don’t really care about what you’re advocating for, be honest with yourself. That might be a turning point, and it’s better to face it with integrity than to fake it and burn out.
• Have a thick skin, while being vulnerable enough to lead with your heart.
• Exercise discretion at all times. Don’t complain about board members or donors by name within earshot of employees or volunteers. And remember that your kids will repeat whatever you say. The same goes for friends.
• If you feel like crying or yelling at someone, take a breath. It passes.
• Control what you can control. Then, the uncontrollable stuff feels a little less terrifying.

And here are my final thoughts on how you should approach your first year as executive director: Think of every day as an honor and a gift.