New World Survival · Community Garden Field Manual

Leadership Succession & Continuity Binder

Map authority, backups, records, financial controls, organizational accounts, recurring deadlines, external relationships, open decisions and the actual transfer of leadership.

Do not write passwords, MFA recovery codes, bank credentials or unnecessary member personal information in this binder. Record where securely governed access is managed and who is authorized.

1. Governing home and authority

Garden legal/program home
☐ independent nonprofit ☐ informal association ☐ municipality ☐ school ☐ church ☐ HOA ☐ sponsored nonprofit ☐ other

Governing authority / sponsor contact

Where governing documents live

Who can appoint/elect temporary leadership?

2. Founder / coordinator dependency scan

Dependency	Backup exists?	Backup practiced?
Authority / approvals	☐	☐
Records / files	☐	☐
Digital accounts	☐	☐
Money / banking	☐	☐
Landowner / sponsor relationship	☐	☐
Water / infrastructure knowledge	☐	☐
Membership / waiting list	☐	☐
Donation / institutional relationships	☐	☐

3. Emergency Leadership Transition Card

Temporary operational lead

Backup

Authority granted

Decisions that must wait for sponsor/board/member vote

Member/public communication owner

Financial continuity owner

4. Role and backup matrix

Role / function	Primary	Backup	Decision rights	Last practiced	Next cross-train

5. Record architecture index

Record class	Authoritative location	Access owner	Backup/access group	Retention policy/source
Governing / authority
Land / lease / permits / insurance
Members / plots / waitlist
Financial / tax / grants
Water / infrastructure
Tools / assets
Safety / incidents
Donors / vendors / recipients
Meetings / decisions
Annual reports / evaluation

6. Record-retention policy check

☐ Sponsor/organization retention policy identified

☐ State-specific requirements identified where relevant

☐ Tax/grant records governed by proper policy

☐ Email/cloud records included

☐ Routine destruction/deletion process documented

☐ Legal hold / investigation override understood

☐ Institutional-memory records deliberately preserved where appropriate

7. Organizational account register

Do not record raw passwords or recovery codes.

Service	Purpose	Organization-owned login?	Admins	MFA?	Recovery owner/method	Credential vault location
		☐		☐
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8. Physical access / assets register

Asset/access	Holder(s)	Backup	Return/change required at transition?	Record location
Garden keys
Shed / tool keys
Gate codes
Water / utility access
Organization device(s)
Credit/debit/payment card
Paper files / storage cabinet

9. Financial continuity sheet

Bank / sponsor accounting system

Authorized signers/users

Who approves spending?

Who reconciles?

Who independently reviews statements?

Where supporting records live

10. Open financial handoff

Item	Amount/status	Due / restriction	Owner	Source document

11. External relationship register

Relationship	Primary contact	Garden primary	Garden backup	What is promised / provided	Next date

12. Annual deadline / renewal register

Date/window	Deadline / event	Source	Owner	Backup	Evidence of completion

13. Decision-history log

Date	Decision / policy	Problem addressed	Who authorized	Review trigger/date	Source minutes

14. Open issues / unresolved risks

Issue	Why unresolved	Current temporary condition	Owner	Next decision/date

15. Cross-training log

Skill / role	Primary	Learner	Observed task completed	Can act independently?	Next practice
			☐ yes ☐ not yet
			☐ yes ☐ not yet
			☐ yes ☐ not yet
			☐ yes ☐ not yet
			☐ yes ☐ not yet
			☐ yes ☐ not yet
			☐ yes ☐ not yet
			☐ yes ☐ not yet
			☐ yes ☐ not yet
			☐ yes ☐ not yet
			☐ yes ☐ not yet
			☐ yes ☐ not yet

16. Founder workload audit

Recurring responsibility	Founder hours/attention	Must founder do it?	New owner	Transfer date
		☐ yes ☐ no
		☐ yes ☐ no
		☐ yes ☐ no
		☐ yes ☐ no
		☐ yes ☐ no
		☐ yes ☐ no
		☐ yes ☐ no
		☐ yes ☐ no
		☐ yes ☐ no
		☐ yes ☐ no

17. Planned departure checklist

☐ Governing body/sponsor notified

☐ Successor/interim authority formally established

☐ Records reviewed and authoritative copies confirmed

☐ Financial reconciliation complete

☐ Bank/payment access updated formally

☐ Digital admins/recovery methods updated

☐ Keys/assets returned or reassigned

☐ External partners introduced to successor

☐ Open issues and deadlines reviewed

☐ Member/community transition message sent

18. Outgoing / incoming boundary

Outgoing leader's continuing role, if any

Decisions outgoing leader no longer makes

Mentoring/check-in schedule if invited

Who redirects requests to new leader

19. New leader first-cycle review

Area	Usable on arrival?	Missing access/record?	Change needed
Authority	☐
Records	☐
Accounts/access	☐
Finances	☐
Calendar/deadlines	☐
Relationships	☐
Operations/safety	☐
Decision history	☐

20. Annual succession health check

☐ Emergency transition card current

☐ Critical roles have practiced backups

☐ Shared record index current

☐ Retention policy/source current

☐ Organizational accounts/admins/recovery current

☐ Financial controls and signers current

☐ External relationships have backup contacts

☐ Annual deadline register current

☐ Open decision/risk register current

☐ Founder-dependency test passes without oral help

Service	Purpose	Organization-owned login?	Admins	MFA?	Recovery owner/method	Credential vault location
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Service	Purpose	Organization-owned login?	Admins	MFA?	Recovery owner/method	Credential vault location
		☐		☐
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