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Nonprofit Executive Transition Program

Bringing clarity and resilience to nonprofit leadership transitions

The Nonprofit Executive Transition (NExT) Program guides nonprofit organizations through executive leadership transitions with intention, clarity, and resilience. A collaboration between Coro California and the Nonprofit Sustainability Initiative (NSI), NExT combines NSI’s executive transition expertise with Coro’s adaptive leadership training and experiential peer learning frameworks. This 18-month program supports three key stakeholder groups — outgoing executives, board representatives, and incoming executives — from reflection and legacy building to sustaining forward momentum. You’ll combat the isolation often experienced during critical transitions and build organizational capacity for long-term resilience and stability. Stipends and grants support participating organizations.

This Coro California program is offered in the Greater Los Angeles Area.

Application Currently Closed

The application cycle has closed. Submit an Interest Form to receive recruitment updates.

INTEREST FORM

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Program Overview

  • Engage in learning sessions that convene outgoing executives, board representatives, and incoming leaders for facilitated workshops, alumni speaker panels, and shared learning in a confidential peer community.
  • Participate in peer learning groups where each of the three leadership groups meets separately in confidential, facilitated circles to share candidly, test approaches, and receive feedback from peers navigating similar roles.
  • Receive mentorship through individual support from alumni who share practical insights about their own transitions.
  • Access a curated library including readings, templates, and reflection tools that support your organization’s transition planning and implementation.
  • Leverage a flexible engagement model that adapts to the distinct needs of outgoing executives, board representatives, and incoming leaders at each phase of transition, supporting both personal success and organizational capacity.
Explore Calendar

Program Benefits

For Organizations

  • Navigate change with stability through structured support that reduces risk and disruption, ensuring leadership transitions don’t derail organizational momentum.
  • Build collective knowledge by participating in a peer cohort where you exchange practices, share challenges, and apply lessons learned across organizations.
  • Align mission and values by framing transitions as opportunities to operationalize organizational values, especially around building cultures of trust, innovation, and community inclusion and engagement.
  • Strengthen long-term resilience through intentional succession planning that positions your organization for sustained and lasting impact.
  • Model best practices for the sector by leading the way in sustainable transitions that honor both departing and incoming leaders while centering the communities your organization serves.

For Individuals

  • Outgoing executives receive support in navigating the practical and emotional aspects of a high-stakes departure, clarifying dignified pathways for concluding tenure, opportunities for legacy reflection, and tools for preparing organizations for change.
  • Board and search representatives strengthen governance capacity during pivotal shifts, gaining strategies to lead succession processes, manage uncertainty, and align transitions with long-term vision.
  • Incoming executives receive mentorship, structured guidance, and trusted peer networks to step confidently into new roles, build credibility, establish trust, and set a strong foundation for early success.
Download Benefits Guide

Ideal Candidates & Eligibility

Eligibility Criteria

  • Organizations undergoing founder or long-tenured transitions whose executive directors (CEO, President, or ED) have served 7+ years and plan departures within 8-12 months from program start.
  • Employ full-time staff who will be directly impacted by the transition and have organizational infrastructure beyond volunteer-led operations.
  • Seek to ground planning in values that reflect the voices of communities served, with commitment to operationalizing organizational values through the transition process.
  • Navigating complex circumstances such as hiring first-time nonprofit executives, shifting to co-executive models, managing transitions alongside organizational growth, or considering both internal and external candidates.
  • Can commit to participation from outgoing executives, board representatives, and incoming leaders. Virtual and in-person sessions will take place in or near Downtown Los Angeles. Explore the program calendar for dates and attendance expectations.

Application Requirements

By application deadline, outgoing executives must have notified boards of planned departures. While any organizational representative can submit applications, best practice is for outgoing executives to apply and serve as the organizational contact until the program begins.

Priority Considerations

Priority given to organizations demonstrating early succession planning activities, clear intention to operationalize values through transitions, complex transition circumstances, and commitment to peer learning. Organizations with pre-identified successors may find less alignment with the program model.

Format & Curriculum

Program Structure

Eighteen-month program with flexible engagement based on participant role. Combines virtual sessions with in-person gatherings held in or near Downtown Los Angeles. Each peer group engages when their involvement matters most throughout the transition arc. Explore the program calendar for more information.

Engagement Timeline

Outgoing executives participate during the first 8-12 months. Board representatives meet regularly through the first 12 months with periodic check-ins afterward. Incoming executives typically join around month 8 and continue through program completion, with flexibility based on individual circumstances.

Learning Components

The program integrates cohort-wide facilitated sessions, role-specific peer learning circles, individual coaching support, mentorship connections with alumni, and asynchronous learning resources including templates and reflection tools.

Learning Approach

Coro’s experiential methods center active practice over passive listening. You’ll engage in case discussions, peer exchanges, and reflective exercises. Facilitators create space for mindfulness, vulnerability, and authentic connection, allowing for flexibility in program content to respond to emergent needs from cohort members, all while fostering psychological safety for adaptive collaboration and innovation.

Program Philosophy

Coro’s approach emphasizes three core principles: active leadership practice as lifelong learning, relating productively across differences in identities and perspectives, and embracing curiosity and vulnerability as foundations for authentic leadership and meaningful change.

Cost & Financial Support

Tuition

NExT is tuition-free for all participating organizations.

Participation Stipends

Thanks to support from the Nonprofit Sustainability Initiative (NSI), each selected organization receives a $5,000 stipend to offset participation costs.

Executive Transition Fund Grants

NSI may provide larger grants to select participating organizations to support transition planning and implementation. Grant eligibility requires completion of the grant section in the program application. Eligible organizations have a Los Angeles County location and service area, paid staff (minimum 5 FTE recommended), annual budgets under $10 million, and organizational values-based goals tied directly to transition plans. Meeting all criteria does not guarantee a grant award.

Application Process & Key Dates

How to Apply

Complete the online application sharing your organization’s transition context, planning activities to date, and commitment to values-centered succession. Review the Application Guide for detailed instructions and tips for crafting strong responses. Applications are reviewed holistically with priority for varied perspectives across sectors, organizational types, geographic locations, and lived experiences.

Application Deadlines

Application portal opens: Fall 2026

Deadline: December 2026

Selection Timeline

If selected for an interview, organizations will receive invitations in early January 2027. Interviews occur during pre-determined time slots in mid-January 2027. Board Chairs will be asked to participate in these interviews alongside executive leaders. Cohort selection (and grant award, if applicable) decisions will be emailed by early February 2027 with participation confirmation required shortly thereafter.

Meet the Cohort and Past Organizations

  • Meet the Cohort
  • Meet the Cohort - Los Angeles
  • Meet the Cohort - Bay Area

Partners