What Faith Communities Get Right About Leadership Transitions
When a nonprofit leader departs, whether after a long, celebrated tenure or a difficult chapter, boards often feel pressure to move quickly. There’s urgency to stabilize, reassure funders, and “get the right person in place.”
In that rush, something essential often is skipped.
Many faith communities approach leadership transitions differently. They appoint an interim minister before calling a permanent one. That interim period is purposeful, structured, and deeply human. There’s a great deal nonprofit boards can learn from this practice.
I’ve seen the consequences of leadership transitions firsthand in my nonprofit work, including during my years at PFund Foundation, where I watched many grantee organizations navigate leadership departures. I’ve also seen a more intentional approach through the United Church of Christ, where my father-in-law served as an Associate Conference Minister supporting congregations through interim transitions.
You Can’t Plan for Everything.
In July, life in Ely changed overnight.
Dry conditions and high temperatures had already created dangerous conditions. Then a storm delivered more than 1,000 lightning strikes, sparking wildfires that moved frighteningly fast. Fires were moving so quickly that embers were crossing large bodies of water.
Suddenly, we were obsessively watching fire maps, checking the wind, talking about evacuation routes, and trying to decide what to do first.
Fear moved quickly, but so did action.
The Inner Work of Asking (Part 3): Do We Trust Generosity?
They told me I owed them nearly $2,000 and needed to pay it immediately.
I had been working at the nonprofit for only three months. The organization had mistakenly failed to deduct the cost of my health insurance from my paychecks. They now wanted the full amount back, and I didn’t have the money.
I called my sister in tears. She listened, helped me calm down, and suggested that I ask the organization to set up a repayment plan I could manage. That was my plan.
The Inner Work of Asking (Part 2): Relationship to Mission
I remember sitting across from a couple who were poised to make a significant gift to the LGBTQ+ organization I was serving. Their child was queer. They had tremendous capacity and had already invested generously in organizations advancing LGBTQ+ rights.
Yet somehow, instead of talking about our work, I found myself talking about wilderness, the importance of children spending time outdoors, and Richard Louv's then-new book, Last Child in the Woods.
I did eventually make the ask, and they made a generous gift. By every outward measure, it was a successful donor visit.
But as I drove home, I couldn't shake the realization that the conversation which had come most naturally wasn't about the mission I represented. My heart had wandered somewhere else.
I still believed deeply in LGBTQ+ equality and justice. What had changed was where I felt most alive. I found myself increasingly drawn to conversations about connecting people with the natural world and protecting the places that had shaped my own life.
That meeting became one of the first clues that it was time for me to discern what was next. That experience taught me something I still believe today: fundraising is at its best when it flows from genuine conviction.
The Inner Work of Asking (Part 1): Our Relationship to Money
Fundraising often gets framed in terms of strategy, campaigns, donor pipelines, and metrics. Yes, those things matter. Yet the people who seem most effective and most sustained by the work over time are often those willing to engage at a deeper level.
Beneath the tactics, something quieter and more profound is unfolding.
Start Where You Are. Build from What is Working.
Many people I talk with feel stuck.
Work is frustrating. Energy is inconsistent. Next steps feel unclear and too challenging to attempt.
The Radical Act of Gratitude
We’re living very real, very human lives while experiencing intense collective local, national, and global trauma.*
Both things are true.
Grit vs. Stubbornness
They say the temperature may drop low enough tonight that sap can expand until some trees literally explode. People say, “It takes grit to live up Nort’,” and these days are what they have in mind.
Living up here, I understand the difference between a tenacity that energizes you—the grit—and a stubbornness that slowly wears you down.
Therapy vs. Coaching: A Helpful Distinction
In the simplest terms, therapy is a healing profession, and coaching is a planning and execution profession.
One Small Concrete Step
In July of 2023, my mom passed away quietly in her sleep, and my beloved, oldest brother Tony was dying of cancer.
I was bereft. And, deeply present. Every moment mattered.
I wanted to carry that sense of presence forward, even after the sharp edge of grief softened. So, I started by naming what I knew to be immutably true.
Tuning in to What’s True
After decades of nonprofit leadership, I took 100 days to practice what I've been cultivating all along: how to slow down and tune into what's true.
Now, I’m excited to share what I’ve learned about finding your unique signal amid all the noise as I embark on a new chapter as a life and leadership coach.