Owner of Organization has left - how to add members

[NicoleVelandia]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Question

Body

The previous owners of an organization I am part of have left and we can no longer add members to this organization. What are the steps we can take to transfer over ownership?

[Black-Ace18]

Add repo collaborators, if depth access is needed contact support team they usually allow you to be team-maintainer of organization if it is personal.

[SaulMoreno3]

If there is still at least one organization owner, that owner can transfer the role from Organization settings → People → Members by changing another member's role to Owner. GitHub recommends keeping more than one owner so the organization does not become inaccessible if one account disappears:
https://docs.github.com/en/organizations/managing-peoples-access-to-your-organization-with-roles/maintaining-ownership-continuity-for-your-organization

If every owner account has left or is inaccessible, a regular member cannot promote themselves or add members with owner privileges. In that case, open a GitHub Support request from an account that is still associated with the organization and include the organization name, the former owner usernames, the current members, and proof that you are authorized to administer it. Avoid creating a replacement organization until Support confirms the recovery path, because repository transfers can affect URLs, forks, Actions secrets, and permissions.