I think those of us who have founded nonprofit organizations have a fundamental challenge with how we conceptualize the nature of our organizations. My feeling is that this comes from the capitalistic notion of ownership. It is hard to escape the paradigmatic problem that comes with being the founder of something; in this case a nonprofit organization or company.
In California, our nonprofit organizations are "public benefit corporations." Part of what this means is that there are no actual owners. There are people who are trustees of that organization on behalf of California.
The organization that I founded, The Audacity Performing Arts Project, Inc., when I filed the incorporation documentation, became part of California. Those of us who run the organization are doing so on behalf of California. The idea for the company, the vision and the mission were all originally mine. When Audacity became a "public benefit corporations", everything about Audacity ceased being mine.
What happens as founders is that we pour so much of ourselves into these passion projects. We give our entire beings into these project. We are rarely able to separate ourselves and our identity from the organizations we bring to life. Most of the time we never make the connection that our ideas are now held in trust for the community that is California; they have ceased to be our ideas. This is where our notions of ownership fail us.
I think this is why so many leaders cling to their leadership long after it is time to transition to new leadership. We are so emotionally committed to our work that recognizing that new leadership and new energy is what keeps these organizations thriving and growing.
In the arts space in which I have operated since 2006, I see leaders clinging to their organizations for decades while entirely losing track of their legacy. We forget that we are no longer the owners of our ideas; we are trustees responsible for ensuring that our organizations are able to manifest an enduring legacy on behalf of California.
This is why I believe so many organizations fail after their founding leaders step down. This is why transitioning from founding leadership is often followed by organizational crisis.
From my experiences, founding leaders should build into their founding documents that the founder is required to transition organizational leadership within 10 years of the founding date.
This has two significant benefits:
1) It forces founders to focus on empowering leadership that will continue the legacy of the organization. The founders focus should always be on legacy and not ownership wrapped up in the emotional entanglements of identity.
2) If frees up these social entrepreneurs to start more such organizations. The world needs more entrepreneurs with a social justice/community focus. This experience is so important and hiding away in a single organization is taking away from so much more important work our communities desperately need.