Key Takeaway: Succession planning is not simply about preparing for a nonprofit CEO’s exit. It is about supporting current leaders, strengthening organizational capacity, and ensuring the organization is ready for its next chapter.

Over the past year, KEES has been asking nonprofit leaders a simple but important question: When do you anticipate retiring or leaving your current role?

We have also been sharing the Center for Effective Philanthropy’s State of Nonprofits 2026: What Funders Need to Know with long-tenured leaders because it reflects the pressures so many are carrying. These findings closely mirror what we have been hearing through our own network—and together, they point to the same conclusion: nonprofit boards need to be having the succession conversation now.

What We’re Hearing

Across more than 160 conversations and outreach touchpoints between May 2025 and June 2026, the most common response in every round of outreach was that leaders anticipated retiring or leaving their roles within two years

While the number signaling an immediate transition has moderated somewhat in 2026, the larger pattern remains. When those expecting to leave within two to five years are included, more than half of the leaders in our most recent conversations anticipate a transition within the next five years.

The question is whether their organizations are prepared.

What the CEP Report Adds

CEP’s 2026 report, based on responses from 380 nonprofit organizations, found a significant increase in leadership burnout. The percentage of nonprofit CEOs who said their own burnout was “very much a concern” rose from 29% in 2025 to 46% in 2026.

The report also found:

• – 73% of nonprofit CEOs reported increased demand for services.
• – 57% said securing foundation grants had become more difficult.
• – 39% of nonprofits operated at a deficit in fiscal year 2025, up from 22% in 2022.
• – The percentage of CEOs reporting that burnout was significantly affecting their staff rose from 17% to 25%.

Leaders considering a transition have not necessarily lost their commitment to the mission. Many may simply be reaching the limits of what they can sustainably absorb.

As one CEO quoted in the report explained, “We are strengthened in our resolve but personally exhausted.”

Commitment and sustainability are not the same thing—and for many nonprofit leaders, the distance between them appears to be narrowing.

What Boards Should Do Now

Succession planning should not begin when a resignation is announced. Starting earlier gives an organization time to support its current leader, strengthen internal leadership capacity, and reduce disruption for staff, funders, partners, and the community.

Boards can begin with a few honest questions:

• – Have we discussed openly with our CEO about their future plans and the support they need?
• – Do we have an emergency leadership transition plan?
• – Have we identified what our organization will need from its next leader?
• – Are we building leadership capacity throughout the organization?

The rise in CEO burnout, combined with the number of leaders in KEES’s network anticipating a transition within five years, sends a clear message: the time to place succession planning on the board agenda is now.

KEES partners with nonprofit organizations on succession planning, leadership transition, and executive search. If your board is ready to begin the conversation, we are here to help. Contact KEES here.

Observations from KEES reflect networking conversations, calls, and informal polling conducted across our professional network between May 2025 and June 2026. These observations are directional and are not intended to represent a scientific survey of the nonprofit sector. CEP data is sourced from the Center for Effective Philanthropy’s “State of Nonprofits 2026: What Funders Need to Know,” based on a survey of 380 nonprofit leaders conducted in February 2026. The full report is available at cep.org.