Launching Sabbatical Grants to Support 'Complete Disengagement' for NPO Leaders

NPO Support Center (Location: Minato-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director: Yuichi Matsumoto) and the religious corporation Shinnyo-en will begin accepting applications for the "FY2026 First Half Sabbatical Grant for Non-Profit Organizations" starting June 1, 2026. This grant aims to promote organizational sustainability, delegation of authority, and the development of next-generation leaders by allowing NPO leaders, such as representatives and secretaries-general, to take a sabbatical leave where they are "completely disengaged" from their regular duties for a certain period. We aim to create a model case as a pioneering practice in Japan that positions the sabbatical not merely as a welfare benefit, but as an "opportunity for the organization to grow by having the leader step away." In recent years, the Japanese NPO sector has faced structural challenges where tasks, decision-making, and external relations are concentrated on specific leaders due to the increasing complexity of social issues, talent shortages, and rising demands for fundraising and accountability. As a result, burnout, sudden departures, lack of successors, and stagnant generational change have occurred, often shaking the sustainability of the organizations themselves. This grant positions the sabbatical leave as "organizational development" that integrates not only the leader's recovery but also the delegation of authority, establishment of interim systems, standardization of operations, development of next-generation leaders, and organizational redesign after returning. This program explicitly sets "complete disengagement" as a basic rule, referring to sabbatical practices accumulated in the US NPO sector since the late 1990s. During the period, the target leader will not be involved in any regular duties, including emails, phone calls, chats, meetings, decision-making, external correspondence, and fundraising. This is based on the idea that it is not just a long vacation, but a "period for the leader to completely step away and for the organization to gain experience in operating on its own." Furthermore, it has been pointed out in the overseas NPO and philanthropy fields that structural changes are difficult to achieve with short-term leaves, so this grant sets a sabbatical period of at least two months. Grant Overview: "FY2026 First Half Sabbatical Grant for Non-Profit Organizations." Application start: June 1, 2026. Application deadline: June 30, 2026. Grant amount: 200,000 yen per organization. Planned adoption: 2 organizations. Target period: August 2026 to January 2027. Organizer: Shinnyo-en. Secretariat: NPO Support Center.