The Burnout Epidemic in Nonprofits: Solutions for Both Leaders and Staff

As a nonprofit employee, feelings of impending burnout are probably as familiar to you as the trenta coffee you throw back each morning like it’s going out of style.

Add on stress from every day things like perusing the news to see the state of the world or economy, and you have a recipe for disaster.

Faced with limited budgets, small staff teams and often stagnant salaries, the nonprofit sector has been facing unique challenges when it comes to finding (and maintaining) the highly coveted and ever elusive work-life balance.

Signs of Nonprofit Burnout

If you’re a nonprofit leader and the topic of burnout is constantly front of mind, you’re not alone. The Center for Effective Philanthropy’ (CEP) report, State of Nonprofits 2024, found that 95% of leaders expressed concern about burnout. Unfortunately, this seems to be a trend for nonprofit organizations with half of nonprofit leaders feeling more concerned about their own burnout than this time last year. Not only does burnout hurt nonprofit staff satisfaction, making it harder to retain and acquire quality employees, but it impacts the ability for nonprofit’s to achieve their mission.

To keep tabs on the health of your organization, watch for these burnout symptoms:

• Physical: fatigue, headaches, illness, changes in appetite or insomnia
• Emotional: irritability, negativity, sadness, apathy or feelings of hopelessness
• Behavioral: withdrawal from coworkers, substance abuse, frequently being late or absent, procrastination or neglecting responsibilities

To figure out if you’re burnt out, ask yourself these questions from Mayo Clinic.

4 Tips for Nonprofit Leaders to Combat Burnout

It can be easy to see one of your employees or coworkers coming in late, not contributing during meetings or frequently calling out sick and just assume “they’re not a hard worker” or “they must have something going on at home.” It can even be something you notice about yourself.

Burnout can happen anyone, event the star members of your nonprofit staff. But keep in mind it will look different for each person, what might burn out one person could be completely manageable for another. It’s important to check in on yourself and your employees especially if you notice any of the above symptoms.

As a nonprofit leader, you can prevent burnout by implementing the following practices.

1. Commit to a Healthy Work Culture

Actions speak louder than words. It’s one thing to state on your nonprofit’s website that you value work-life balance or that your team is a “family” but committing to those statements is important for avoiding employee burnout.

Encourage vacations, breaks, avoid requesting work to be done outside of hours, offer flexibility with remote or hybrid work and be understanding when scheduling changes occur. In addition to these, show appreciation for your staff members. Whether you host larger celebrations for team wins and recognize the hard work everyone puts in or send regular thank-you messages or gift cards that appreciate an individual’s efforts, recognition is important for boosting team morale.

A crucial aspect of healthy work culture is having open conversations about mental health. Stress can take over any employee. This combined with limited time off, a heavy workload and feeling under appreciated with a recipe for burnout. Take the time to check in on your team’s stress level and provide resources, initiatives and programs that benefit mental health, like wellness days.

2. Build Realistic Expectations with Stakeholders

Many times board members, funders or beneficiaries of your nonprofit may be nudging you to reach certain goals in ways that can burn out your team. It’s important to provide clear expectations and transparency about the current state of your organization. This will help avoid over burdening staff and even gain support for increases in budget for employee programs.

During meetings with stakeholders, discuss the operational capacity you currently have and share about struggles or successes you’ve seen that contribute to reaching goals. Make sure you set boundaries when it comes to a realistic deliverable, you might not reach your goal, that’s okay. For example, if your staff is limited, you may not have the bandwidth to participate in helping a new need that has come up in your community. It’s better to complete the projects your nonprofit has already started to prevent staff from taking on too much.

Ultimately, aligning your stakeholders with the reality of staff burnout and the negative impacts it will have on nonprofit success will be key. Use data and analytics to support your case. This can make a huge difference when it comes to setting realistic goals, a balanced budget, improvements to staff programs and increased support.

3. Ensure Adequate Staffing and Resources

Building realistic expectations with your stakeholders goes hand in hand with ensuring adequate staffing and resources. Once you’ve had conversations with them, maybe you’ve gained additional budget for your nonprofit staff. Depending on the needs of your org, allocate this appropriately to prevent burnout.

If your nonprofit has a lack of resources that slows or prevents your team from achieving their goals, make this the number one priority with budget allocation.

Imagine a nonprofit like Habitat for Humanity. Their team members that build the homes are over-worked and are starting to see the effects of burnout. There are limited tools, fewer staff and building each new house is taking longer, putting a physical and mental strain on employees. To combat this burnout, as a leader, make efforts to hire more staff for these specific projects, obtain more tools and ensure that employees are getting (and taking) enough breaks.

You might say, well what if I don’t have the budget to do so? Reach out to your community!

Put on a recruitment effort for qualified volunteers that can help without safety risks. Ask for donations of tools, construction equipment or building materials. Donations of water, lunches or snacks can go a long way with your hard-working staff too. With all the hard work they put in, being appreciated with a hot lunch might make a major difference for their mental health.

Above all, put your nonprofit staff first and make sure they have the precious resources needed to make a difference on your mission. You might have to make difficult trade-offs when it comes to budget, but your team should come first.

4. Implement Programs for Professional Growth

Many people join nonprofits for their professional growth. They want to benefit a cause they care about, while becoming an expert in the industry. Support this goal by offering training sessions, educational seminars or webinars, certification courses and always have a career path put in place for each staff member.

Investing in your team and their career goals will go a long way in building a relationship where employees feel supported. Plus, this will bring a new sense of motivation to your staff! Ask your team what programs they would benefit from most, adding to the open communication we discussed earlier.

But perhaps you’re not a nonprofit leader. Or maybe you’re tired of hearing about what you should do to prevent burnout. Let’s flip this blog on it’s head and talk about what to do if you definitely want to burn out as a nonprofit employee.

9 Ways to Definitely Burn Out as a Nonprofit Employee

1. Never Take a Vacation. Ever.

Just because psychologists say vacations are important to reducing stress and improving overall well-being, it doesn’t mean taking one is necessary – right?

Wrong. By giving us much-needed space and time away from the pressures of work, vacations can reduce our risk of heart disease and other chronic illnesses, improve our mental health and strengthen our relationships with family and friends.

They’ve also been proven to – you got it – reduce feelings of burnout.

So if you’re really intent on burning out at work, don’t take a vacation. Ever.

2. Never Mind Vacations. Never Even Take a Break.

When’s the last time you gave yourself permission to take a break?

Taking breaks and unplugging during the day can work wonders for reducing stress, gaining perspective and feeling more in control of your time. But actually stepping away from your ever-growing workload for even a few minutes can seem next to impossible at times.

Sadly, you’re not alone. 59% of North American workers admitted that they believe taking regular lunch breaks would be looked at negatively by their employers.

The benefits of a simple break are greater than you think. A recent survey found that those who take breaks regularly report 62% better work-life balance, 43% greater ability to manage stress, and 43% more overall satisfaction than their peers.

Here are a few ideas for squeezing more breaks into your day:

• Whether you’re in the office or working from home, schedule 20 minutes into your calendar each day. Take that time to completely step away from your desk and even (gasp!) leave your phone behind. Go for a walk, grab a coffee, read a book or just stare out the window if that’s your thing. That brief moment of respite each day will clear your mind and help you tackle the rest of your day feeling refreshed.
• If you’re working from home while looking after your kids, or even attempting to homeschool them while working full-time, finding time for breaks can seem almost laughable. But it is possible! Find time to relax with your kids during the workday. Go for a quick walk or bike ride, have a picnic lunch or read a book together.
• Try a little to unwind in the middle of your day. Or, if you’re not comfortable getting zen at your desk, where you may be in full view of your colleagues, desk yoga check out these tips for connecting with your inner yogi in the office restroom. Crisis Response Network in Tempe, Arizona transformed an old training room into an on-site workout room after employees said they would use it to “let off steam” from their stressful work. The organization’s health insurance carrier, Cigna, covered the cost of the equipment for the onsite gym under the organization’s plan.

But anyway, if you are really intent on burning out, don’t follow this advice.

3. Make “Yes” Your Favourite Word.

Nonprofit employees are notoriously overworked. When you combine limited staff with big missions, long hours managing a seemingly endless stream of projects and demands can seem inevitable.

But there’s something you can do about it. Just say no.

You’re probably laughing a little maniacally right now. “No” is a word not often heard in the halls of nonprofit workplaces.

But regardless of your role at your organization, you have every right to let your manager know when you’re at your limit and simply can’t take on additional projects. Check out this great resource for tips on how to tell your boss you’re at your max.

And if those projects simply must get done, there are people out there willing to help. But if you for sure want to burn out, definitely follow our next tip…

4. Never Outsource Anything.

Freelancers and consultants are a nonprofit’s best friend. Not only are these individuals pros at what they do, outsourcing work to independent contractors can be highly cost effective for nonprofits running on shoestring budgets.

Here are a few examples of freelancers you could hire to help ease your workload and produce high-quality results:

• Writers, editors and marketing professionals who can help build your blog, write your annual report, bring your strategic plan to life, lead an ad campaign or manage your social media. The possibilities are endless.
• Fundraising consultants who can help you plan your entire pipeline or help manage a single major gift ask.
• Project managers who can help you navigate complex projects you just don’t have the bandwidth for.

Try asking friends and colleagues for referrals or search on LinkedIn to start identifying freelancers able and willing to help you take on more while doing less.

5. Buy a Fancy Soap and Call It Self-Care.

Self-care is more than a buzzword.

In a world where we’re working more hours than ever, technology is blurring the lines between our work and personal lives and commutes are getting ever-longer, taking the time to develop sustainable self-care habits can mean the difference between putting your best self forward or running off into the sunset, screaming.

But practicing good self-care habits doesn’t mean just buying a fancy soap and calling it a day.

Here are a few of our favourite examples of solid and sustainable self-care routines:

• Squeeze in just 10 or 15 minutes of yoga every morning (or most mornings). The benefits of yoga are vast and well-documented, ranging from improved mental health to better sleep, not to mention increased strength and flexibility. And a 10-year study found that just 12 minutes of yoga each day was enough to see improvements. Check out YouTube superstars Sarah Beth Yoga or Yoga with Adriene for great short yoga routines you can build into your daily self-care routine. If you’re not into yoga, try another type of exercise you can do from home or even go for a quick walk before starting your day.
• Get outdoors. Make time every day to get outside for fresh air, even in bad weather. If you have a kid, bring them with you – they’ll love splashing in puddles or playing in the snow. Research shows that being outdoors has wide-ranging mental and physical health benefits, and communing with nature – whether you live next to a national park or have a small urban green space close by – is both fun and free.
• Make a point to schedule in social time. Long hours at the office, often combined with a busy family life, can make socializing seem downright exhausting. But science tells us that spending time with friends is critical to our well-being. Setting up regular dates with your closest friends – even if you can only get together once every month or two – will give you something to look forward to and make you happier in the long run.

But you don’t need to practice self-care, right? Nah, me neither.

6. Never Ask for or Expect a Raise.

As a nonprofit employee, you might feel that your relatively low or stagnant salary is just something you have to accept.

Even though your salary is making you feel underpaid and overworked – contributing to your pending burnout – you almost feel a bit guilty thinking about asking for a raise.

That’s the wrong attitude. You deserve to make a liveable wage – one that at least keeps up with inflation and reflects your hard work, commitment and contributions.

If you haven’t received a raise in a while – or ever – it may be time to have a conversation with your manager. Check out these tips for negotiating a raise at your nonprofit.

7. Make Your Colleagues Your Friends… Your Only Friends.

If you work so much that you wake up one day and realize your colleagues are your only friends, you’ve got a work-life balance issue.

It’s not that it’s bad to develop friendships with your colleagues; you do spend the majority of your waking hours with them, after all.

But if your social life is limited to your co-workers, work will always have a way of creeping into your conversations – leaving little opportunity to fully disengage and even creating some awkward situations.

Getting close with your co-workers is also a sign that you’re not making enough space for other people or interests in your life.

Take time to re-connect with friends from other parts of your life to get some much-needed perspective on what’s happening outside of your work bubble and leave the water cooler chat behind for a little while.

8. Assume Chronic Exhaustion Is Normal.

Feeling tired for a day or two because of an early day, late night or busy schedule is normal. Feeling tired for weeks on end is not.

If you’re struggling with chronic tiredness, you may be experiencing work-related fatigue – defined by the Mayo Clinic as “a nearly constant state of weariness that develops over time and reduces your energy, motivation and concentration.”

If this is you, take a moment to acknowledge that your current approach to work isn’t, well, working for you anymore – and then take steps to re-balance and re-prioritize.

You could also create a friendly competition at your organization to encourage staff to get more sleep.

Meka S. Sales, Health Care Program Officer at The Duke Endowment, serves on an employee committee that oversees the Endowment’s wellbeing in the workplace initiatives. As part of the voluntary program, employees wear trackers that monitor not only fitness activity but also sleep. The organization holds monthly challenges including a sleep challenge. Participants said they gained a lot of awareness of their sleep habits and could improve them.

9. Never Tell Anyone How You’re Feeling. Especially Not Your Manager.

When you’re on the brink of burnout, the worst thing you can do is nothing at all.

Before things get too out of control – before you start to miss deadlines or develop signs of serious mental health concerns – speak with your manager about how you’ve been feeling.

Share the toll your workload is taking on your health and well-being and ask if he or she can help you re-prioritize your projects (see number three for tips on how to approach this conversation).

It’s your manager’s job to keep your best interests at heart and make sure you feel equipped to complete your work well and on time. You may be surprised to learn your boss had no idea you’ve been feeling stressed out and is eager to help you find some balance.

If your manager is unwilling to help, well, that’s a bad sign. In that case, consider whether any of your other colleagues could help you strategize a plan to better manage your workload, or talk to your HR representative if you have concerns about how your manager is responding (or not responding) to your challenges.

But Seriously: Take Care of Yourself!

Nothing is more important than your mental health and well-being.

If you’ve tried (or, erm, not tried?) everything in this list and you’re still feeling exhausted, anxious, irritable or even apathetic about your work – the classic signs of burnout – it may be time to consider a job change.

But if you’re looking for more immediate mental health support, check out these resources.

If you’re in the U.S., visit the National Alliance on Mental Illness website for a list of resources you can access right away, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with Crisis Text Line’s counsellors.

If you’re in Canada, visit the Government of Canada’s website for links to services and support for a range of mental health needs. This link will give you all the phone numbers to connect to someone for your specific need as well.