I have been thinking about nonprofit staff. Times are stressful. The sector is under attack. Funding is shrinking.

I know our staff are worn out. Sometimes they confide in me. Often the CEO will say something to the board. We see talented people leave because they are exhausted. We watch EDs quietly burn out while telling everyone else to practice self-care. And we board members nod and say how much we appreciate how hard the staff works. But I am not sure we really do much about it. I know we are not asking what this costs for our mission.

The nonprofit world is particularly vulnerable here. Our people are mission-driven. Staff who believe deeply in the work will often keep giving long past the point of sustainability. It is easy for leaders to allow them, because the work is important and resources are always short. But a burned-out staff cannot serve the mission.

Mission Is Not a Substitute for Sustainability

We often ask our people to accept lower pay, heavier workloads, and more emotional strain than they would face elsewhere. We ask because the mission matters. That may work for a while. But it is not a sustainable strategy.

We all know people who never take their vacation time, who answer emails before and after work or on weekends, and who are always “on.” These are the most dedicated people.

I have come to believe that, as leaders, we must actively protect people from overworking by focusing on culture. We need to not only urge staff to take vacations, but also to create policies that encourage them to take time and to truly disconnect.  We need to set an example of respecting downtime and not expecting an immediate response to an email sent after dinner or over the weekend.

We also need to be open to flex time. When my kids were young, I was fortunate to be able to work flexibly. I stopped work at 3 pm to be with them after school. And then I worked a couple more hours after they went to bed. I still work unusual hours so I can participate in other activities during regular office hours. So, people get emails from me at odd hours.

I was told by someone recently that they put NO NEED TO REPLY UNTIL MONDAY in the subject line of weekend emails. (Something I am going to adopt.)  Another approach is to be clear within your organization that no response is expected outside of work hours unless something is marked URGENT. Small changes like these send a powerful message about expectations.

Wellbeing Is Structural, Not Just Personal

When organizations talk about wellbeing, they often reach for individual fixes — a meditation app, a wellness webinar, an occasional “no-meeting” afternoon. Those things are fine, but they put the burden on the individual. If someone is drowning in an impossible workload, a mindfulness session tells them the problem is their inability to cope, not the workload itself.

Real wellbeing lives in structures: reasonable workloads, adequate staffing, clear priorities, the authority to say no to some things, and honest conversations about what will not get done.

If everything is a priority, nothing is, and staff absorbs that tension. Deciding what your organization will stop doing is often a more powerful wellbeing intervention than anything you could put in a wellness budget.

As leaders, we need to be vigilant about mission creep and inadequate staffing. It is always hard to say no. But we must learn to do so.  

The Executive Director Needs Care Too

I want to say something directly to boards here, because this one is often invisible. Your ED is frequently the person with the least support in the whole organization. Staff have a manager to turn to; the ED has a board, which is a different thing. EDs are notorious for modeling exactly the overwork they should be discouraging — answering emails at midnight, skipping vacation, carrying the organization’s stress alone.

A board that cares about staff wellbeing starts with the person it directly supervises. Ask your ED how they are—and mean it. Talk about workload, not just performance. Encourage them to take vacations, and when possible, consider offering periodic sabbaticals with real coverage during their time away.

When the ED is depleted, it cascades down through the entire organization. Leaders set the pace whether they mean to or not.

Compensation Is Also a Wellbeing Issue

We sometimes treat compensation and wellbeing as separate topics, as if wellbeing were about culture while compensation was simply a budget issue. But financial stress is one of the heaviest burdens a person can carry. Asking someone to worry about paying rent while pouring themselves into your mission is its own kind of harm. Compensation includes both fair pay and paid time off. Time away from work is not a luxury. It is part of how people renew themselves.

I know some nonprofit staff members who work second jobs just to make ends meet. In one case, I heard a board member say his preference was for staff to take on additional work rather than to pay them a reasonable salary. 

Unfortunately, I have heard similar comments from donors who argue there are too many staff, salaries are too high, vacation benefits too generous, and overhead too much. Sometimes these same donors own multiple vacation homes, travel extensively, and employ nannies and others to help with the burdens of their everyday life.

I am not naïve about budgets. I know money is genuinely tight, and I am not suggesting every organization can simply pay more. But I do think we owe our people honesty and effort: a thoughtful compensation philosophy, transparency about how decisions are made, and a genuine commitment to close gaps over time rather than treating below-market pay as a permanent feature of nonprofit life that everyone should just accept.

And this comes back to the topic of how much work the organization is trying to do. If all the staff are overworked, then you need to stop doing some things.

Staff Wellbeing Helps Us Fulfill Our Mission

In the end, I keep coming back to a simple thought. The mission of a nonprofit is to improve lives. That should include the lives of the people doing the work.

As leaders, we should work to build organizations where people feel valued, encouraged, and supported. Having staff who are run-down depletes the entire organization, which means we cannot serve our missions as well. In contrast, when staff are energized, our organizations are more resilient, and we can better serve our communities. So, staff wellbeing is not a distraction from the mission. It is one way to fulfill it.

Lessons to Consider

• Watch your most dedicated people closely. They are the least likely to ask for help and the most likely to burn out.
• Create a culture that values downtime. Vacations, weekends, and eight-hour days are important.
• Fix structures, not just individuals. Reasonable workloads and clear priorities do more than any wellness perk.
• Care for the ED. Boards that want a healthy staff should start with the person they supervise.
• Treat pay as part of wellbeing. Financial stress is real. People deserve honesty, fairness, and a genuine effort to improve over time.