Joe Ross, 74, left, an Executive Service Corps of Chicago program coordinator, and Almarie Wagner, 64, whom the corps has placed as interim executive director, discuss the ESC’s management transition program.

Executive Service Corps of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois

Many nonprofits across the country are struggling with a problem that may be avoidable: instability after an executive director leaves.

Executive Service Corps of Chicago, or ESC, helps organizations during that critical time “between directors” by creating a pool of experienced former directors willing to take short-term assignments benefiting nonprofits.

The need for a service to help nonprofits find interim directors was clear, says Marcia Lipetz, president and CEO of ESC, a nonprofit consulting organization. A 2006 report by The Bridgespan Group predicts that nonprofit organizations will need 640,000 senior managers, including executive directors, by 2016.

A year after that estimate surfaced – amid other similar projections – ESC launched its interim director program, which recruits, screens, trains and refers interim director candidates to serve in Chicago-area nonprofits.

An organization seeking an interim executive pays ESC to assess the nonprofit’s leadership needs. Based on that evaluation, the corps refers three people to the nonprofit, which handles the interviews, hiring and compensation.

Candidates, who are typically over 50, undergo training at ESC to learn about how to serve an organization in transition. An interim director’s role is to prepare nonprofits to “pivot and thrive,” Lipetz says. Often that mission requires hard, quick and potentially unpopular decisions that only someone with confidence backed by years of experience can make.

ESC assists the interim directors by assigning them to program coordinators, volunteers who often have great experience in nonprofit management and are available to offer advice or help. The corps also schedules peer group meetings so that program participants may learn from and support each other.

When Almarie Wagner, 64, accepted an interim post in 2008 at Art Resources in Teaching, she led the nonprofit through hard staffing decisions and changes. “If we hadn’t done that, the organization would’ve closed for sure,” she says.

Wagner had held nonprofit management positions for about 35 years, the last 15 as the head of the American Heart Association. As Art Resources in Teaching’s interim director for 10 months, she helped to broaden its fundraising strategy and identify qualifications for a new executive director. She says she felt proud to help steady an organization that otherwise couldn’t have afforded someone with her background.

Emmy King, an Art Resources in Teaching board member, recalls: “We had let two executive directors go in a two-year time frame. Both had proved disastrous for our organization. We went to ESC to try to find someone to help guide us through our challenges, and Almarie was a perfect match.”

Aurie A. Pennick, executive director and treasurer of The Field Foundation of Illinois, which funded the start-up of the interim director program, says ESC’s effort “represents a win-win strategy that I believe has great implications for the future, in terms of technical assistance services to nonprofit organizations.”

For more information, contact Marcia Lipetz, info@esc-chicago.org. Or visit:
esc-chicago.org.