Interim Leadership: The Strategy Nonprofits Often Miss

Jeffrey R. Wilcox, President and Chief Learning Curator of Third Sector Company, and Nancy Bacon of Nancy Bacon Consulting—provide a timely conversation on interim leadership as a smart business move for nonprofits.

Nancy shares the findings from their recently completed report on Interim Leadership and how it was built through deep listening—town halls, surveys, and focus groups with interim experts across North America—to capture what the field is becoming. The result: a sector-wide definition that positions interim leadership as an intentional, mission-centered intervention at a pivotal moment—built to stabilize operations, guide people through change, and set up the next leader for success.

Jeffrey makes the business case with unmistakable clarity: “Interim is an investment. It is not an expense.” Rather than a temporary human resource fix, the work addresses a major risk facing nonprofits: executive attrition and leadership transitions that aren’t planned. Boards that treat a transition like an emergency hire often trade speed for stability—then pay for it later in culture strain, staff churn, and stalled momentum.

The conversation lifts the role of language in board decision-making. Both guests emphasize that clear expectations reduce fear and prevent “accidental interims” created by rushed succession. Jeffrey shares a simple framework interims consistently bring: clarity, capacity, and confidence—so boards can move forward with shared reality instead of conflicting perceptions.

Finally, the episode widens the lens: interim leadership is expanding beyond coastal hubs, accelerated by COVID-era shifts and virtual capacity, allowing experienced leaders to support rural and smaller communities that need strong nonprofit operations the most.

If your organization is thinking about succession—or avoiding it—this conversation offers a practical, mission-forward way to treat leadership change as a moment to strengthen the business engine behind the mission.

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