| How do I prevent fundraising burnout? | Make peace with the hard parts, but don't give up. The tips below show you how. |
Miss Manners once said that you should never talk about sex, religion, politics and money. With apologies to last century’s etiquette columnist, we disagree.
When report after report is coming out saying that workers and organizations are struggling because of money-related challenges, talking about it is the responsible thing to do. Specifically, we need to acknowledge that fundraising in all its stress is the foundation for sustainability and a leading trigger for burnout.
If you’ve worked in a small nonprofit organization, you may know all too well the challenges associated with raising money and managing a precarious budget. It’s exhilarating when things are going well, terrifying when they aren’t. And it can be draining when year after year you just manage to stay afloat.
If you haven’t experienced fundraising stress, just imagine putting all of your effort into juggling tasks on a list that’s always growing. Then, imagine that the consequence for dropping any ball is potentially the end of a vital program, service, or campaign. The stake are high: health, social ties, economic opportunity, even the actual planet. Many people are depending on you. On top of that, your personal income and financial security are also at stake. Now you’ve got the picture.
One hallmark of sustainability is a certainty that you will be able to generate the resources you need to do good work. Ironically, the process of raising those funds can sometimes be so demanding that it drives you to burnout. We need to reach our goal, but the path towards it just might get the best of us.
(If it’s any consolation, this is true for any epic challenge or journey. If the path was easy, you probably wouldn’t be called to it.)
There are many ways that fundraising work can be stressful, characteristics of this profession that elevate your risk of burnout. The urgency of the work, tight deadlines, the high stakes, and all the forces outside of your control are a few that jump to mind. The fact that most fundraising programs reset every year can mask the progress you’re making.
When fundraising stress is part of your life, it’s not hard to see how burnout begins its smoulder: exhaustion, a need to protect yourself from the emotional roller coaster, and a sense that your efforts aren’t making enough of a difference.
Most people survive the stress because the good parts of fundraising are so wonderfully good. When you see people step forward to support a cause, connections being forged, or when your programs change people’s lives, you can’t help but feel motivated. One or two highs are enough to put a spring in your step for months at a time.
To manage stress successfully, you need to make peace with the fact that fundraising isn’t fair. It isn’t a pure meritocracy. The best projects don’t always get funded. The most talented individuals don’t always get to implement their programs.
Many of the problems nonprofits are trying to solve are rooted in some kind of unfairness. Some communities are polluted while others are have clean air and clean water. Some families have food while others go hungry. Lovely people get sick, while some nasty brutes live long, healthy lives.
Fundraisers bear witness to unfairness day in and day out. They even immerse themselves in it: internalizing it, figuring out how to explain it to people who haven’t seen it for themselves, and using their creative energy to encourage donors to care.
Many fundraising strategies involve seeking financial support from people who have money so you can spend it on work that helps communities without the same resources. Fundraisers can spend a lot of time in wealthy donors’ worlds. One day you may meet someone for a lunch, visit the inner recess of a shiny office tower, than attend a gala. The next day, you may find yourself back in the field or in the office where the core work happens.
The contrast between your donors’ lives and your community’s lives can be stark; the dissonance can take a toll on your sense of fairness and your personal identity.
Many of the stresses in fundraising aren’t personal; they have little to do with the work you do or the quality of your fundraising appeals. Yes, developing fundraising skills and building out your organization’s toolset will make you a better fundraiser — but there are never any guarantees.
Most nonprofits can’t control demand for their services. You don’t get to decide when the next natural disaster or environmental crisis or food shortage will strike and you’ll be called upon to help.
You don’t decide how much money will be available for the work you do. Many formal funders like foundations and governments choose their priorities and then allocate funds. If your work doesn’t align, you’ll have to look elsewhere.
Other forces decide what issues people — and potential donors — care about. Not all issues earn equal public attention. Your success is often determined by stories and events that shaped people’s opinions before you showed up with the ask.
There are things you can do to forge alliances, influence funders’ priorities, and build awareness for your cause that will improve your fundraising results. But those actions take resources, and resources come from fundraising.
The point of labelling these risk factors isn’t to stress you out. It’s to ensure that these factors don’t catch you off guard. Knowing what to expect helps you prepare for the inevitable barriers, pitfalls, and ogres you’ll meet on your epic journey.
Change rarely arrives overnight. Sustainable fundraising strikes a balance between optimism and pessimism.
If you enter into fundraising thinking all you need to do to succeed is offer great programs and craft the best funding proposals, then you are going to get frustrated or heartbroken. Fast.
At the same time, if you are too cynical to start or too jaded to hone your strategy and skills, you won’t make any progress.
As hard as fundraising can feel sometimes, doing nothing is harder to bear. Ignoring the climate crisis, hunger, and violence won’t make anyone feel better.
Not every path leads to your destination. Every effort won’t succeed.
To cope with normal fundraising stressors, learn how to bounce back quickly when you encounter a setback. Take breaks and reset often. And focus as much as possible on your mission and successes. The good days can carry you through.
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