Taking over from a founder: leading a charity beyond its origin story

Taking over from a charity founder is a distinctive and often delicate leadership transition – one that asks incoming CEOs to honour a legacy while confidently setting a new direction.

This online session features an in-depth conversation with Rachel
Grocott, who brings rare, first-hand experience of succeeding founders in two different high-profile campaigning charities.

Rachel joined Pregnant Then Screwed in May 2025 after spending seven years at Bloody Good Period – where she started out as a part-time comms whizz while six months pregnant and helped grow the organisation into a leading voice on period inequality. She took over from founder and CEO Gabby Jahanshahi-Edlin in 2022. At Pregnant Then Screwed, where she took over from founder and CEO Joeli Brearley a decade after the charity’s origins, Rachel has rebuilt a high-performing team, refreshed the organisational strategy and reignited campaigning and fundraising work, with much more to come.

Drawing on her leadership journeys across both organisations, Rachel will share reflections on what the transition from founder-led to successor-led leadership really looks like and what ultimately enables a new CEO to thrive.

Participants will explore:

• the questions to ask before accepting the role, including how to
  understand board expectations and the organisation’s readiness for change

• what to focus on during the handover, from clarifying responsibilities to
  navigating cultural dynamics and building early trust with staff and stakeholders
• key milestones, and how to use them to assess progress, reset where necessary, and establish a stable foundation for long-term leadership
• practical tips for transition, grounded in real-world experience
• reflections on making the role your own, balancing respect for organisational history with the need to bring fresh energy, ideas and leadership identity

Designed for charity CEOs and aspiring leaders, who have taken over from a founder, are thinking about applying for a role where this applies, or just want to explore and learn more about this potential career path, this session offers a supportive, honest and experience rich space to learn, ask questions, and build strategies for leading a charity beyond its founding chapter.

This event will not be recorded.

Speaker

Rachel Grocott

CEO, Pregnant then Screwed

Rachel Grocott

CEO, Pregnant then Screwed

Rachel joined Pregnant then Screwed in May 2025 after spending seven years at Bloody Good Period – where she started out as a part-time comms whizz while six months pregnant, and helped grow the charity into a leading voice on period inequality. She took over from founder and CEO Gabby Jahanshahi-Edlin in 2022. At Pregnant Then Screwed, where she took over from the founder and CEO Joeli Brearley a decade after the charity’s origins, she has rebuilt a high-performing team, refreshed the organisational strategy and reignited campaigning and fundraising work, with much more to come. 

Rachel balances working life with a young family, a very energetic rescue dog and regular Zumba classes.