Embracing Change: When Board Members Step Down, Make Room for What’s Next
By Sandra Davis, CEO & Founder of Donorly
This is the fifth and final installment of our series on giving and leadership at nonprofit boards. If you missed the previous posts, you can find them here:
📖 Read the previous posts:
➡️ Blog Post #1: Making It Easy — How to Ensure 100% Board Participation in Your Next Campaign
➡️ Blog Post #2: What’s Holding Your Board Back? Overcoming Resistance to Giving
➡️ Blog Post #3: Leading by Example: The Ripple Effect of Board Giving
➡️ Blog Post #4: Shifting Board Culture: How to Introduce a Giving Expectation for Your Capital Campaign
Nonprofit boards are living, evolving entities. Just as an organization grows, adapts, and encounters new challenges, so too does its board. Change is inevitable. And that includes transitions on and off the board.
At some point, every nonprofit will face the reality of longstanding board members stepping away. Some will leave at natural transition points, like the end of a term. Others may step down due to life changes, shifting priorities, or simply because they recognize their time on the board has run its course.
For many organizations, these departures can feel unsettling—especially when the board member is a major donor, a connector with key relationships, or someone with deep institutional knowledge. The fear sets in: Will we lose funding? How do we replace their expertise? What does this mean for our future?
But here’s the truth: Board transitions are not a crisis. They’re an opportunity. When a board member steps down, they create space for new leadership—leaders who are aligned with where the organization is headed next. The key is to navigate these transitions with confidence, intentionality, and gratitude.
I’ve seen it over and over again. Boards have a natural reluctance to part ways with board members who are ready to move or (or should be encouraged to move on).
I think back to a board member who spent many years wearing the title of Gala Chair for one of our clients. They loved the attention and accolades of chairing this prestigious event, but they didn’t bring anything new to the event after years of chairing. They had exhausted their network so didn’t bring in new donors, and they gave modestly but still expected prominent placement of their table in the room. Worst of all, they brought a lot of negativity to every single board meeting. Their role seemed to be to squash every new idea and use the board meeting as a forum to publicly shame others for poorly formatted documents.
We knew this individual needed to be asked to step down and let someone else take on chairing this event. There were others who would jump at the chance to take over this chairmanship, but board leadership was reluctant to rock the boat. Finally, this board member experienced a job change that required them to resign from the board. The gala chair position opened up, and the tone of every board meeting after that became much, much lighter. With clear guidelines and expectations around tenure, it could have happened much sooner, and with a lot more ease.
Change is Inevitable—Embrace It and Manage It
No board remains static. Some members serve for a few years; others stay for decades. But no one serves forever—and that’s a good thing. As an organization evolves, so must its leadership.
In times of growth, your board may need members with new skill sets—perhaps expertise in real estate, capital campaigns, or scaling operations. During moments of crisis or transition, you may need problem-solvers, strategic thinkers, or connectors who can stabilize and reimagine your next chapter.
Rather than seeing board departures as a loss, reframe them as an inflection point:
“This transition isn’t about who is leaving—it’s about who we need at the table for what’s next.”
Honor and Celebrate Departing Board Members
How an organization handles a board member’s departure speaks volumes about its culture. Whether someone has served for three years or thirty, their contributions deserve acknowledgment.
A few ways to celebrate their service:
Public Recognition – Share a tribute in a board meeting, a donor newsletter, or on social media.
Legacy Highlights – Reflect on key moments or milestones they helped achieve.
Continued Engagement – Invite them to serve in an advisory role, as an honorary committee member, or as an ambassador for major events.
A well-executed transition reinforces gratitude rather than anxiety, be proactive about designing this moment, and ensure that even those who step away are celebrated and remain champions of the mission.
Focus on the Future, Not the Past
Once you’ve honored outgoing board members, shift the energy toward what’s next. Board recruitment should be an ongoing strategic process, not a knee-jerk reaction to fill a vacancy.
Key questions to guide your approach:
What skills, networks, and expertise does the board need for the organization’s next phase?
Are there emerging leaders already engaged with the nonprofit who could step into greater roles?
How can we ensure the board reflects the diversity, lived experience, and connections that will strengthen our work?
Instead of waiting for the moment of a board member’s departure to search for a “replacement”, think of this as an opportunity to review and confirm alignment of the the board with the organization’s current and future needs.
Normalize Board Turnover as a Sign of a Health
When board departures create anxiety, it’s often because the organization lacks a culture of planned, intentional leadership transitions. To prevent future panic:
Implement term limits so board turnover is expected rather than disruptive.
Develop a board pipeline by engaging potential future members in committees, task forces, or advisory roles before they are asked to serve.
Hold regular succession planning conversations so leadership transitions happen proactively, not reactively.
A board should be dynamic. New members bring fresh perspectives, energy, and skills. When turnover is treated as a normal part of governance, it fosters resilience instead of instability. Current board members understand this is not expected to be a permanent role, and new board members know they are not walking into a board room where the power is already positioned among the “old guard” and a “this is the way we’ve always done it” attitude will win the day.
Lean Into Alignment Over Obligation
The most important mindset shift: Board service should be a choice and privilege, not an obligation.
A disengaged or reluctant board member does not serve the organization well. Instead of viewing every departure as a problem, recognize that when someone steps away, they are making room for leaders who are fully invested.
This is how strong boards are built—not by clinging to the past, but by curating a leadership team that is fully aligned with the mission’s future.
Healthy Growth Requires Letting Go
When board members step down, it’s natural to feel a sense of loss. But instead of reacting with fear, embrace the moment as an opportunity. Celebrate what was, step forward into what’s next, and welcome the new leadership that will carry your mission into the future.
Your nonprofit’s success is driven by the passion, vision, and leadership of your current board members. It is freeing and healthy to constantly evolve from the expectations, traditions,, and personalities of retired board members, no matter what contribution they made during their tenure.
