Jeffrey R. Wilcox, President and Chief Mission Advancement Officer, Joan Brown, COO and Lovisa Stannow, Peer Advisor and Academy Faculty MemberHow does Third Sector Company reframe nonprofit executive transitions as strategic moments for organizational evolution?
This framing carries weight in the nonprofit sector as leadership transitions unfold amid tighter funding, greater public accountability, and rising community expectations.
With fewer than 25 percent of nonprofits maintaining formal succession plans and employee turnover nearing 29 percent annually, executive departures expose gaps that can either destabilize an organization or reposition it for long-term relevance.
What role does Third Sector Company play in preparing and deploying interim nonprofit executive leadership?
“Our work centers on offering a national academy that teaches strategic transitional leadership to career nonprofit professionals and deploying our graduates as interim executives to guide organizations through deep change and toward the right long-term hire,” says Jeffrey R. Wilcox, president and chief mission advancement officer.
From the outset, the Interim Executives Academy at Third Sector Company is grounded in organizational psychology, a logic model of change management, a set of protocols, and a strong emphasis on facilitating profound processes that bring clarity to an organization’s current truth and future opportunities and risks. Today, there are nearly 700 Academy graduates located in 40 states and 3 provinces.
“Interim leaders help to unknot significant tensions in workplace culture, infrastructure deficiencies, funder compliance demands, and increasing demands by people in need that are tied into one job,” says Wilcox.
In one engagement following the departure of a long-tenured executive director, a board sought interim support to address what it perceived as weak systems and unclear protocols. While those issues were real, deeper assessment revealed that staff members felt unheard after years of limited voice in organizational decisions.
How do Third Sector Company interim leaders surface underlying organizational challenges beyond visible operational issues?
By combining Third Sector Company’s structured methodologies with deep listening and curiosity, the interim leader strengthened operations while rebuilding trust across the organization. As Lovisa Stannow, peer advisor and Academy faculty member, explains, “Clarity is kindness. When expectations and roles remain unclear, organizations struggle.”
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Our work centers on offering a national academy that teaches strategic transitional leadership to career nonprofit professionals and deploying our graduates as interim executives to guide organizations through deep change and toward the right long-term hire.
Third Sector Company interim executives offer a structured, six-stage framework that guides organizations through a 10- to 12-months process that spans from engagement and organizational assessment through planning, functional alignment, transformation, and executive transition.
“We’re careful not to use language that suggests something has to be fixed. We talk about people who are facing a challenge and want to evolve toward a more confident future for the organization,” says Joan Brown, COO.
Within this framework, Third Sector Company evaluates interim leadership success through four interconnected dimensions of impact:
• Organizational Identity - helping non-profits reassess the relevance and long-term sustainability of their mission in a changing environment.
• Infrastructure Effectiveness and Efficiency – focusing on organizational infrastructure, where governance systems, decision-making processes, and accountability structures are clarified and strengthened.
• People and Community Engagement – positively influencing how organizations engage and edify their relationships staff, boards, partners, and the broader nonprofit ecosystem. Underpinning all of this is culture, where psychological safety, trust, and internal dynamics are addressed.
• Service Impact – assuring the community benefit promise made by a nonprofit is taking place in measured and visible ways.
How does Third Sector Company reinforce interim leadership effectiveness?
Support for this work goes well beyond placement. Third Sector Company surrounds interim executives with peer advisors who provide perspective throughout each engagement. Nonprofit boards and staff also receive guidance on how interim leadership differs from permanent roles, reducing misalignment and unrealistic expectations. Over time, former interims become advisors themselves, reinforcing continuity, shared learning, and collective responsibility across the broader community of practice.
Additional rigor comes from early, independent financial statement reviews in each engagement. These reviews establish a shared financial reality for boards, staff, and interim leaders, ensuring strategic decisions are based on transparent, third-party analysis. This commitment reflects Third Sector Company’s belief that truth underpins stakeholder trust and effective governance.
In January 2026, Third Sector Company published its second “State of the Nonprofit Interim Leadership Profession” report that further solidified the organization’s intentions to be a pioneering leader in the field and an exemplary top provider of interim leadership.
After hundreds of transitions, one lesson is clear: executive change succeeds when organizations receive structure without disruption, honesty without judgment, and guidance without imposition. By treating interim leadership as a disciplined practice grounded in restraint, emotional intelligence, and precision, Third Sector Company prepares organizations for their next chapter rather than rushing toward replacement.
