The nonprofit sector has a comfort problem. Certain fundraising practices have been wrapped in so much tradition, emotion, and institutional inertia that questioning them has become professionally dangerous. The sector calls this wisdom. Most of it is scar tissue — and some of it is actively costing you money. Tradition is not a strategy. It […]

Leadership thinks donor retention is a fundraising problem. It’s not. It’s a leadership problem. And confusing the two is costing your organization a fortune. Here is a number that should bother you: 43%. That is the sector-wide donor retention rate, per the Fundraising Effectiveness Project’s most recent full-year data. Forty-three percent sounds almost survivable until […]

A quick note before we start: this is the third piece in a series. The first two — Well-Being Theatre and The Sector Has a Language Problem — It’s Just Not the One You Think — apparently said some things people had been waiting to hear. Both will be in the comments. This one says […]

This piece is the second in a series. The first, Well-Being Theatre, made the case that the sector’s language around rest and sustainability is exactly that—language. The title was not an accident. Neither is the word “theater” in this one. If you haven’t read it, the argument that follows will make more sense if you […]

The nonprofit sector has become very good at talking about burnout.

It has been far less willing to stop causing it.

Over the past several years, the nonprofit sector has become remarkably articulate about burnout. Conference sessions on sustainable pace. Leadership retreats devoted to wellbeing. Instagram graphics about empty cups. Earnest staff emails about rest.

The language is sophisticated. The tone is compassionate. The graphics are beautiful.

And yet, for a sector that talks about rest constantly, it has proven remarkably unwilling to build organizations where rest is structurally possible.