Aside from it being in the news regularly, a recent survey by AFP-GPC confirmed that many fundraisers and executive directors in our region are getting closer to retirement. At the same time, private foundations are seeking answers to IDEA questions, how senior staff interacts with board and others, how well your organization performs in relation to your peer organizations, and more. These three seemingly unconnected topics—executive transitions, peer benchmarking, and private foundation relations—can and will create funding challenges in the future if you are not making plans today. In this session, we will discuss the trends that we are seeing, as well as ways to prepare your organization to respond to these trends. We will explore how peer benchmarking and transition planning can help your organization manage upcoming changes so that funders view your organization as a strategic thought leader in your sector.

Participants will learn:
Trends in private foundation grant proposal questions.
Why benchmarking can help your organization stand out among your peers as well as simple techniques for gathering benchmarking data.
Why knowledge transfer is a key aspect to transition planning.
Overview of selected techniques for planning senior staff knowledge transfer and continuity during transitions.