What If Letting Go Is a Leadership Skill?

In the nonprofit world, we are great at starting things.

New programs. New pilots. New initiatives born out of real need and real heart. We celebrate innovation, hustle, and growth. We fund what is new and shiny. We proudly point to what we built.

But we talk far less about something equally important.

Letting go.

Asset transfer is, at its core, a disciplined form of letting go.

It is the moment a leader looks honestly at a program and says, “This is good work, but it may no longer belong here.” Not because the program failed. Not because the organization is struggling. But because the program has outgrown its original container, or the organization has evolved in a new direction.

Asset transfer is choosing impact over attachment.

For many nonprofit leaders, the idea of asset transfer or handing a program to another organization, can feel uncomfortable. Even threatening. It can sound like failure, retreat, or loss of control. After all, we created this. We nurtured it. We fought to fund it. We know it.

What if we reframed that story?

What if transferring a program was not a sign that something went wrong, but evidence that leadership is working exactly as it should?

Think of programs as living things. Some are meant to be incubated in small, nimble environments where creativity and risk are possible. Others need scale, infrastructure, and systems to survive long term. Problems arise when a program outgrows the organization that birthed it, or when an organization outgrows a program that once fit perfectly.

In those moments, holding on can actually limit intended impact.

A program does not stop being valuable just because it no longer belongs in its original home.

In fact, its value may increase when it is allowed to move to a place where it can thrive. The real question we should be asking ourselves is not “Can we keep this?” but “Where can this do the most good?”

This mindset shift requires humility and courage. It asks leaders and boards to see themselves not as owners of programs, but as stewards of impact on behalf of the community. Stewardship means making decisions that serve the mission, even when those decisions challenge our attachment to structure, legacy, or identity.

Imagine if asset transfer were normalized rather than whispered about. If it were seen as a proactive strategy instead of a last resort. If funders, boards, and executive directors asked together, “Is there another organization better positioned to carry this forward?”

The ripple effects could be powerful. Strong programs would not quietly fade when funding tightens or the leadership changes. Burnout could decrease as organizations focus on what they do best. Collaboration would move from polite partnership to real ecosystem thinking.

Sometimes leadership is about building. Sometimes it is about protecting. And sometimes, it is about trusting that what you started can grow further without you.

Letting go, when done thoughtfully, may be one of the most generous leadership acts there is.

And maybe, just maybe, it is time we celebrated it as such.