During the thirty-five years I have been in fundraising, I have observed that the greatest factor causing people to leave fundraising or to burn out is not the work itself or even the challenge of having to ask for money. It is the constant, gnawing anxiety that the money won’t come in and the knowledge that once you have raised money for one month or one quarter you must simply begin fundraising for the next period of time. A colleague of mine observed that the best day of her year was immediately followed by the worst day. The best day was the end of the fiscal year if the organization had raised or exceeded its goals for the year. Staff and board would celebrate and everyone would feel good. The worst day was the next day—the first day of the new fiscal year when everything started over. Fundraising for small organizations means there is rarely any rest, success is short-lived, and lack of success shows up immediately. Fundraising can also be an isolating job, with the burden of producing money too often placed on one or two people.

Many paid fundraising staff have told me that they wake up in the middle of the night worrying and that they never really feel free to take a weekend off, let alone a vacation. Fundraising staff often watch their enthusiasm and self-esteem get eaten away by the constant pressure of a job that by its nature can never be finished.

Aside from seeking psychotherapy or quitting one’s job, there are five ways to deal with this anxiety.

RECRUIT VOLUNTEERS AND DELEGATE

Saul Alinsky, one of the most important figures in community organizing in the 20th century, had an iron rule for organizing that also applies to fundraising: “Never do for someone what they can do for themselves.” People who are good at fundraising know that people like to help. When you are doing something that a reasonable, intelligent person could do with minimal training, find such a person and get him or her involved. This will decrease your isolation and increase your productivity and, as Cesar Chavez observed, “The more things people can find out for themselves, the more vigor the organization is going to have.” Having volunteers help you will not save time, as the time you save by having them do the task is used in recruiting, training, supervising, and then thanking them, but the goal of having the work spread over a larger number of people is accomplished, and the feeling that it is all up to you is diminished. Further, once this becomes part of the organizational culture, volunteers will recruit other volunteers and they will teach each other the tasks they have taken on.

KEEP YOUR PRIORITIES CLEAR

If your primary responsibility is to raise money, then every day that you come to work set your priorities around that goal. Ask yourself: “Of all the tasks that I have to do today, which one will raise the most money over the longest period of time?” Do that task first, then do the task that will raise the second-most amount of money, and so on. These decisions will call for some judgment on your part. For example, if you have the choice of writing a grant proposal for $10,000 or approaching a major donor for an additional gift of $1,000, you may decide to go to the donor because she is more likely than the foundation to give year after year. Or if you follow the advice to involve others, you will try to enlist a board member to go to the prospective donor, freeing yourself up to write the grant proposal. Just remember that no one ever finishes the whole job. Make sure that the things you don’t do are things not related to fundraising. Here’s an example.

In one organization, the director was the only staff person. Feeling responsible for everything, she did those things she knew how to do and that she could finish. She kept accurate and excellent books; paid bills on time; got out minutes and agendas for meetings; and wrote, edited, and produced the newsletter. The board did a lot of program work under her direction. Soon, the organization had little money and was in danger of going out of business. This director quickly learned to change her priorities. Now she works on fundraising at least four hours every day; the organization has outsourced the bookkeeping; board meeting minutes and agendas are handled by the board secretary; and at each board meeting, the director has a fundraising to-do list for the board. While some board members object that they would rather be working on a program than on fundraising, the director is teaching them that without money there is no program. The primary responsibility of the board and staff of any organization is to do work that fulfills the mission, which usually means active, ongoing participation in fundraising.

DETACH FROM THE RESULTS OF YOUR WORK

Not being able to do everything is not a condemnation of your worth as a person. A request turned down or an unsuccessful appeal does not mean that you are a failure as a person or as a fundraiser. If you make a mistake, it doesn’t mean you are a mistake. Ask yourself whether it will be important in ten years whether you got the newsletter out today or next week. One person can only do so much. Do what you can do in the time allotted, and let the rest go. Too often, small nonprofits have fundraising goals that no one could reach. Instead of trying to live up to impossible expectations, evaluate your goal setting.

RECOGNIZE THAT THERE ARE EXTERNAL FORCES BEYOND YOUR CONTROL

You can do your job flawlessly and your organization can be effective and well regarded, and you still may not be able to raise the money you need. The rising gap between rich and poor, which every year reaches another record, and the depth and breadth of government cutbacks mean that more and more organizations scramble for money. In the United States particularly, there is plenty of money, but it is very unevenly distributed. Without a major restructuring of social policy that places people ahead of corporate profit and a priority on peace rather than military might, nonprofits of all sorts will continue to struggle. This state of affairs is not your fault. Dealing with these larger forces means opening up the time in your organization to join and work in coalitions of organizations addressing tax policy, the preservation of “the commons,” and the role of the nonprofit sector in general. Your organization has to work on issues beyond its own mission. Getting perspective on the larger picture will help reduce your anxiety.

Some people have found it helpful to form support groups with others doing similar types of work—either informal gatherings over happy hour or more formal, structured meetings at a specific time and place. If you do use a support group, make sure it supports your work and helps with strategies. Do not use it as a gripe session to compare notes on how awful everyone’s job is. That will only make you more dejected.

TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF

There is a pervasive form of contemporary violence to which the idealist fighting for peace by nonviolent methods most easily succumbs: activism and overwork. The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common form, of its innate violence. To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything is to succumb to violence. More than that, it is cooperation in violence. The frenzy of the activist neutralizes one’s work for peace. It destroys the fruitfulness of one’s work because it kills the root of inner wisdom which makes work fruitful.

—Thomas Merton

Don’t always work overtime. Take vacations. Ask for help. Delegate tasks. The overall work of social justice is the creation of a humane and just society in which, among other things, work and leisure are balanced. If the culture of your workplace does not encourage balance, it is unlikely that your organization can have a positive role in creating social change.