One of the most important roles and responsibilities of a nonprofit board is to hire, manage, review, and appropriately compensate and support the Executive Director.
A time of leadership change can be challenging, but it is also a time of opportunity. Having an informed, engaged, and committed search committee and board helps ensure the organization addresses challenges and mitigates risks, while realizing opportunities that the change allows. Often, a board will make the wise investment of retaining an executive search firm for the recruitment process. This can be an expensive proposition, though, and not one all nonprofits can afford. This guide is meant to help a nonprofit board realize the opportunities of hiring its next Executive Director, while ensuring a fair, equitable, and inclusive process. It can be used to help understand the process while working with a search consultant, or for managing the search independently.