2006-01-18

Making the Most of the Internal Interim Directorship

This article is based on a survey of 52 interim directors in nonprofit museums in the United States. Altogether, these museums reflect a wide diversity of organizations - visual arts, history, science centers, and childrens museums - and different budget sizes, from those with budgets under $100,000 to those with multi-million dollar operations.

When a nonprofit organizations director leaves in a time of financial pressure, most boards appoint an internal staff member as the interim leader. Executive searches are expensive, and most institutions welcome the temporary budget bonus created by an internal appointment because four out of every five dollars often go toward salary costs. While recent management literature has suggested that nonprofits benefit from the designation of independent professionals as interim directors when their leaders leave the organization, relatively few organizations choose that path. For small, under-funded agencies hiring an independent professional is seldom an option. But what are the effects of the decision to appoint an internal staff member for this transitional leadership role?

Read the article: Support Center for Nonprofit Management

An article by Robert Goler, Director, Arts Management Program at American University (Washington DC)