In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, May’s Pulse of Fundraising highlights articles that discuss burnout in our profession and provide some strategies to address it. Make sure to take some time to check in with yourself this month and reach out if you need help: https://namimass.org/resources/.
How Fundraisers Can Get Off the Road to Exhaustion and Burnout
“When we’re tied to what we do professionally, and that’s what people know us for — being a strong employee or a productive employee — to ask for help is really hard”. This article discusses reasons why fundraisers feel burnout and why they struggle to ask for help when needed. While there is no simple solution, Haynes identifies the common cause of burnout in the sector as exhaustion. She also includes recommendations for leaders on how they can support their teams.
Creative Solutions to Tackling Nonprofit Burnout
“Leaders are learning that the kindness and flexibility they extend to others must be extended to themselves as well.” This article discusses some of the creative and structural ways that organizations can provide their employees with time for rest and recovery. The author specifically discusses the work the McGregor Fund is doing through their Eugene Miller Fellowship and the role that philanthropy can play in addressing nonprofit burnout.
Nonprofits explore non-traditional leadership structures to avoid burnout
This article discusses the emerging trend of alternative leadership structures in nonprofit organizations and highlights a few Michigan organizations that have already made these changes as ways to address burnout and bring in more diverse voices. The author highlights this as one of the tools that more and more organizations are starting to consider to address burnout at the executive level.
The Invisible Disability: How Nonprofits Fail Their Employees with Mental Illness
In this article, the author shares their personal experience navigating mental illness in professional spaces as a nonprofit fundraiser. They discuss situations that have arisen in their workplace, how they were handled, and the impact of that. The author provides suggestions for what employers can do to ensure that they are creating a safer environment for their employees.
