Thank you for taking part in our survey. Your experience and perspective are very important to us.

Succession in social enterprises – particularly the transition from a founder-led to a management-led organisation – has so far received relatively little systematic attention. We want to change that.

We aim to capture, structure and bring together the valuable experiences of founders and long-standing leaders in a practical handbook. Our goal is to create a compass for the next generation that provides real insights and makes proven succession models accessible.

Over the past months, we have developed the theoretical foundation and identified key aspects of the succession process. Based on this work, we have developed a set of core questions that we would now like to explore with you.

Our research focuses on three interconnected perspectives:
  • Personal level: How do founders and long-standing leaders experience letting go of responsibility, changing roles and moving into a new stage of life?
  • Organisational level: How well prepared is the organisation for succession, and how worthwhile is its long-term continuation – in other words, how well can it continue independently of the founder, and to what extent does its mission and impact justify continuation?
  • Societal level: What social and economic consequences may arise if no viable succession solution can be found?
The quantitative questionnaire is designed to capture experiences in a comparable way, identify different succession situations and select suitable cases for subsequent qualitative interviews.

We therefore consider three perspectives relating to the personal, organisational and societal levels.

Together, this will provide a solid foundation of practice and theory for the handbook From Success to Succession, which will be made available open source during Q1 2027.
Estimated completion time: approximately 20 minutes

Project team

Dr. Andreas Heinecke is a serial social entrepreneur, founder of Dialogue Social Enterprise and initiator of Dialogue in the Dark. He is the first Ashoka Fellow in Western Europe, a Global Fellow of the Schwab Foundation / World Economic Forum, and a member of the BMW Foundation Responsible Leaders network. Andreas has received numerous international awards. He holds a PhD in philosophy and is Professor of Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the European Business School.

Ralf Sange, graduate social economist and doctoral researcher at the Institute of Entrepreneurship, Faculty of Economics and Management, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg; Senior Serial Social Entrepreneur, Managing Director of Gründer 50plus GmbH, and Ashoka Fellow. He is Project Director of ‘Succession in Social Enterprises’, a programme funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy and the European Social Fund Plus (ESF Plus). He is also the author of Senior Social Entrepreneurship: How to Become a Purpose-Driven Entrepreneur at 50plus (2022).

Nancy Mortifee has dedicated her career to inner development and mindfulness education. She served as Dean of Inner Development Programs for The Wellbeing Project (2014–2024), designing and co-facilitating programs, and providing individual guidance to more than 150 social entrepreneurs. She is a mindfulness facilitator and private coach, with teaching experience at Esalen, Omega and Hollyhock Institutes. She is the author of Mind Power for Children and a Mindfulness Education Curriculum researched at the University of British Columbia and presented at Harvard University.

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Contact for questions:
survey@nachfolge-sozialunternehmen.de

Question Title

1. I have read the information about the survey and data protection and consent to the processing of my information for the purposes described. (Required.)

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