Finish Well

Finish well means leaving the ministry ready.Ready for the people who will remain.Ready for the leader who comes next.Ready for the mission to continue.

Finish Well is a practical, twelve-step guide to succession planning for executive directors, founders, and boards of Christian ministries and nonprofits. It walks a leader from the first uncomfortable conversation about succession to the day she hands the ministry to the next leader and walks away.

A healthy succession involves more than finding a replacement. It means preparing the board to lead, the team to remain steady, the organization to function, and the next leader to step into a ministry that is ready.

Robin Fuller led pregnancy center ministries for twenty-three years, including sixteen and a half years leading one organization, before completing her own succession. Today she coaches executive directors and boards through that same passage. This is not a book of theory. It is a field guide, written out of real experience.

Inside, you will learn how to:

Along the way, Robin answers the questions leaders rarely ask out loud. When is it actually time to leave? Who should come next? How do you prepare a board that has never done this? What does the ministry know only because you know it, and how do you get it on paper before you go? How do you let go of a ministry, a calling, and an identity you love?

The book includes a "Things I Do" document for capturing what only you carry, guidance for strengthening the organizational structure, the hiring process, and the board of directors, the qualities a board should look for in a candidate, and notes of encouragement for the successor. A brief self-assessment at the end of Chapter 1 points you to the chapters you need most, and each chapter closes with Questions to Ponder. The appendix provides three tools to adapt and use: a Simple Staff Survey, a Project Proposal Form, and an Executive Director Succession Plan Sample.

Written for executive directors, CEOs, founders, board chairs, and board members of pregnancy centers, churches, and Christian nonprofits, whether you are planning years ahead, facing an unexpected transition, or stepping in as the next leader.