Project Toolkitby Maxime Lab

Playbook

Our sponsor has left

The sponsor resigns, moves or stops turning up.

First 24 hours

  1. Find out who holds the budget today.
  2. Pause new commitments that need sponsor approval.
  3. Prepare a one-page brief: purpose, value, status, decisions needed.

Then

  1. Ask leadership to name a sponsor within a set time.
  2. Re-test the business case with the new person.
  3. Re-agree goals, limits and reporting.
  4. Update the charter.
Message you can adapt

With Anna’s move, the project has no sponsor. Two decisions are waiting and funding approval expires on 15 May. Could you confirm who takes over by Friday? I’ve attached a one-page brief.

Avoid

Don’t carry on as if nothing happened. A project with no sponsor rarely survives.

Tools for this

Last reviewed 2026-11-02 · Practitioner review pending

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