Episode 35: Combating Burnout
This nonprofit is your dream, your vision, your baby. It often means you are the driver–running programs, fundraising, networking, back office–you’re doing it all. But you are human. And after a while, burnout is inevitable. Unless you’re intentional about incorporating self-care into your sustainability strategy. Check out Amber's 7 Tips for Combating Burnout.
LINKS:
NONPROFIT SPOTLIGHT: Centre Theatre Group
Podcast Transcript
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome to On Air with Amber Wynn, where nonprofit leaders learn to fuse passion and commitment with proven business strategies to create long-term funding, impact, and sustainability. And now, here's your host and resident Philanthrepreneur Amber Wynn.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Hey fam, it's your girl and I'm back with another episode of On Air with Amber, and I'm so excited. I know I say that every week, don't I? But I am. I'm so excited about today's topic because as the hardest working people in the world, and I'm gonna say that with all confidence, cuz I've been there, done that, got the T-shirt. You guys are the hardest working people on the planet. And because of that, I wanted to take on this topic and it's called combating burnout. Nonprofit leaders experience the highest level of burnout in any industry. Do you know why? It's because we work hard and we are underpaid and there's a thousand million trillion gazillion things to do. And typically it's one person doing it. So experience and burnout is real. And in particular in this sector where you give and give and give and there's very little reciprocity. So once we come back from our first commercial break, y'all know how we do it. I am going to tell you Amber's seven steps to self-preservation. All right? So when we come back, y'all gonna get the truth.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
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Speaker 4 (02:17):
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Speaker 2 (03:03):
We're back with On Air with Amber, your resident, Philanthrepreneur. And today we're talking about a very serious topic, combating burnout. Nonprofit leaders give and give and give until they're just burnt out. And what ends up happening is amazing people end up leaving the sector. And so I wanted to have just a conversation with you fam on ways to prevent that, because there are ways. Are they easy? Nope. But if you follow Amber's seven steps to self-preservation, and I'm gonna emphasize self because this work is hard and it's thankless, but no one is going to save you. I have founders saying all the time, my board doesn't this and my this doesn't that…people are not gonna step in and say, My goodness, you're doing an amazing job here. Here's a spa day. They're not gonna do it. I know because my experience as executive director, my administrative assistant found me in front of the desk, passed out from exhaustion.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
So I am telling you, I'm giving permission to give yourself permission to take care of you. Here's the thing, if you are holding up the universe, then that means if you drop the ball, the universe is gonna crash. So your nonprofit, your services that you're providing is being held up by you. It's like being on an airplane when they tell you, put your oxygen on you first before you help somebody else. This is what you're doing. Don't feel guilty. Don't feel like you know, you should put yourself last. You have to put yourself first. When I work with clients, I always tell them, we've gotta do the things that's gonna make your life easier because you're the one doing it. And so if the work that you're doing and how you're doing it is easier for you, then that means that you're being preserved longer. So let's jump into it.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
So like I said, this is a thankless job. 40% of all nonprofits close their doors within two years, primarily because they can't figure out how to fund it and to pay staff. But a lot of times it's because the founder has given so much that they're worn out, they're burnt out, and so they tap out. We don't want that to happen to you because the world needs nonprofits. So here are the things I am going to propose to you. Number one, recognize that you are a volunteer if you're not getting paid. And if you are getting paid, it doesn't matter. Doesn't mean you're supposed to be all things to all people. The first thing I want you to do is to stage your nonprofit. If you haven't already gone to my website, www.amberwynn.net and take the quiz, stage your nonprofit. There are seven stages. Choose a nonprofit success path.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
The reason why it's important for you to stage your nonprofit is because you could be in stage three, but you're doing all of the work of stage seven. That's a waste of time and energy. You need to do the steps that are gonna move you further along. So if you are in step two, you only need to be focusing on the work that you need to do on step two. That's gonna help to preserve your energy, that's gonna help to save you money, resources, and to build your organization in a formulaic way. So first thing you wanna do is to stage your nonprofit. The second thing you wanna do is learn the rules of engagement. A lot of you founders out there are just making things up as you go along, which makes you do extra work. So you need to do the research to understand what it is that the IRS expects you to do, what it is that a funder expects you to do and stop doing all this extra stuff.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
People are trying to just force the outside world to succumb to what they wanna do. And it doesn't work that way. Once you understand, once you know what it is that the IRS and funders expect you to do, it reduces all of this extra busy work cuz you're gonna focus on exactly what it is you need to do to get funded. So do your research so you understand what the expectations are from the IRS and from funders. Number three, create a plan. I can't tell you how many founders are out there just doing something over here and then doing something over here that is wasted energy. Once you know the rules, once you understand what the IRS and funders expect you to do, create a plan and stay on that plan. Cuz once you have a plan, you are only gonna do what you need to do for that amount of time and then move on and move on.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
If you have no plan, you're gonna be out there willy-nilly, just like I said, expending energy that you don't have. Number four, fund small goals with big payoffs. This is huge in the nonprofit sector. So many founders, executive directors will have all of these small fundraisers that take a lot of energy, not only from you but from your network. So you're gonna have a fish fry this Friday, so you gotta get volunteers and people donating food and then you gotta get together and then you gotta promote it. What is the payoff? You've gotten $500 from that fish fry. You invested a thousand and you got 500. No, no, no. You need to identify small goals. First of all, that's going to get you high payoffs. What's the saying, promise low deliver high? Same sentiment. You wanna put out as little energy as you can, but get a big result.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
What does that look like? Well, how about if you enroll for an employee matching program? That's passive income, money while you sleep. You're not getting out there hustling every day. You're gonna have to put some energy, just a little bit…your narrative making sure that you can verify your 501(c)(3) to the organization. But once you put your information up there, then employees are then donating 20, 40, $5,000 a month. Boom, small effort, big return. That is unrestricted money that you get to use for something bigger. Let's just say you get $60,000 from that employee matching. Now you can take that $60,000 and invest it in something that's gonna help your organization grow. Small investment, big returns. That's gonna save you energy, that's gonna save you time. And mostly that's gonna help to prevent burnout. Number five, this is huge, the 80/20 rule.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
The 80/20 rule says that you don't do everything at once. So maybe you start off if you're trying to recruit a board, you don't do everything all at once. The first month, maybe you carve out one hour a week and then the next month it's two hours a week. So you start off small 20% of the work until you grow into 80%, right? So that's gonna help preserve. You still have to run your organization, you still have to do what you have to do, but you still are also, as we talked about, creating a plan. I need to get board members so that I'm not doing everything. So I'm gonna carve out a designated day and I'm gonna fight for that day. It's gonna be on Thursdays that I spend one hour researching potential board members. It's gonna be Thursday for two hours in the next month, and then Thursday, three hours in the next month until you accomplish that goal. That's the 80/20 rule. Don't start off with a hundred percent adding to what it is that you already do 200% of; start small and then grow. And then oh, okay. Number six, you need to create a strict self-care regimen. I remember talking to a mentor and this is when I was an executive director and she was like, Amber, you're just looking raggedy. You need to take care of yourself. And this was my response.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Yeah, I know that. But it's one thing to intellectually know it and another thing to do it. It wasn't until I had a really good friend say to me, Listen, this is how you do it. You open up your calendar, you block out two hours once a month. So two hours on a Friday. The third Friday of the month, you block out two hours and no matter what, you don't give it up. Or you get up at six o'clock in the morning every day and you go to the gym no matter what. That's why it's called a strict self-care regimen. You fight for your time just like you would fight for time with a funder. If you say, I know I feel better when I exercise, but I always have so much work, that means you're not putting you first. You create this regimen, you stick to it because you owe it to yourself.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
For me, I would have spa days and listen, I didn't have money for spa days, but I did have CVS and I would go and I would get me some…Epson salt gave me some candles, line it up along the bed, put that Epson salt. I had me a nice little glass of wine, put me on some Maxwell, and for one hour I would do nothing but just chill. Yeah, I got all shriveled up. Yeah, I did. But you know what, that was my self-care regimen. I did it on Fridays to close out my week and to give myself time for my brain, just not to be figuring something out. So create that regimen. If you are a runner, make sure you run. If you do gym work, weights, do that. If it's just reading, do something for you every week. And if you can do it every day, that's even better.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
When a person says, Hey, can you meet at this time? And that's that time on your calendar, Here's what you say, I can't I already have a commitment on my calendar. What's another day that's available for you? Cuz that's the biggest thing. It's like, Oh, that's just my time. I can move it. You need to be committed to your time just like you would be if it was a funder. So here's the response. Oh, I can't have a commitment on my calendar already for that time. What's another time? Your commitment is to yourself. Your commitment is to your self-care. So remember that phrase, once my friend gave me that phrase, it was easy. I'm sorry, I can't, I have a commitment on my calendar for that. That commitment is to me, commit to yourself. And then finally, number seven, get help. Get help. You can't do it all.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
A nonprofit is a business. It's just a business with a philanthropic purpose, but it's still a business. Businesses are not meant to be run alone. In particular public charities, 501(c)(3), that's the purpose of the board. It's their governance entity. That's their title, their role, their fiduciary legal responsibility is to help you run the organization. Now, some of you did not pick strategically when you picked your first board. That's okay, That's all right. Now that better rotate those people off and then rotate some new people on who can help you. And if you can't get your board engaged, get some volunteers, get their companies out there that do pro bono work. Get some help. Don't try and do it all on your own cuz that is a quick way to get to burnout. So those are the seven steps for self-preservation. Number one, stage your nonprofit. Number two, learn the rules of engagement. Number three, create a plan. Number four, fund small goals with big payoffs. Number five, follow the 80 20 rule. Number six, institute a strict self care regimen. And then number seven, get help. Get some support. Don't do it all on your own. These are my tried and true steps for self-preservation because burnout is real y'all. All right, so when we come back we have oh, our Ask Amber section. Oh, I love these questions. All right, so when we come back, ask Amber,
Speaker 5 (16:00):
You're a school, a foundation, a healthcare provider, or an environmental group, a museum, a church, a shelter, or a community service. You're starting a nonprofit on a startup budget, and you need to get this right the first time. No mistakes, no misunderstandings, and no costly do-overs. At Nonprofit Elite, we know what you need because we've been there too. Accurate information, mistake-free filings, and peace of mind assurance that your 501(c)(3) application will be successful. This is what we do, and we are very good at it, all backed by our industry-leading guarantee and 100% IRS approval rate. But forming your nonprofit and obtaining tax-exempt status is just the beginning. Once you're up and running, Nonprofit Elite will consolidate the bulk of your operations into one place, including your accounting, compliance, website, fundraising, and more. We do the work of several full-time staff for just a fraction of the cost so that you can remain focused on advancing your mission. Contact Nonprofit Elite for expert preparation of your formation documents and 501(c)(3) application, and for a full range of accounting, fundraising, and administrative solutions.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Hey, hey, hey, we're back. You're on air with Amber Wynn, your resident philanthrepreneur. And I support the most amazing individuals in the world, nonprofit founders and executive directors. I provide you with the roadmap to nonprofit impact, success and sustainability. And today, we've been talking about combating burnout. It's a real phenomenon that is very prevalent in the nonprofit sector, but right now it's your time. It's the Ask Amber. And I got a question off of Facebook, and this person and I were going back and forth about what to do to strengthen a nonprofit. And basically you wanna make sure that you increase your staff's skills, you bring them in and you want to give them new skills and help them grow with the organization. And so the question was, well, how do I increase my staff skills when I can barely afford to pay them? Real talk y'all?
Speaker 2 (18:25):
First of all, before we jump into that, I will say, if you can't afford to pay your staff, then my suggestion is to learn how to generate consistent revenue. And I offer a free masterclass. The four Secrets to Successful Nonprofits. If you visit my website, there's a link there where you can sign up to take this free masterclass that will help you get your infrastructure in place so that you can pay your staff. But before we get there, I want to answer this question because that takes some time to get to, it's professional development, helping your staff to increase their skills. When they increase their skills, not only are you helping them to better your organization, but better themselves as employees. So the first thing you can do if you don't have the money is to leverage your staff's expertise. Everybody is good at something, right?
Speaker 2 (19:22):
So in my organization, I was really good at writing. I was an English major. So what I would suggest is during a staff meeting, we say, Okay, everybody's gonna contribute to the growth of this organization. List the top three things that you're great at, and then we are going to designate a training once a month where you share your skills with the rest of the staff. So for me, that meant I did business writing or I did marketing, writing, whatever the focus was, and I shared my tips or I shared a process or something with the rest of the staff. So I was teaching them and that was helping them to increase their skill set. Everybody's good at something. We had one of our staff member who was really good at event planning and she would teach us how to do centerpieces or things like that.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
Everybody's good at something. So the first place you wanna start is with your staff. It also makes them feel like they're contributing to the organization and it helps to build leadership skills. So you start with your staff. The second thing is then you leverage friends and family. I have people ask me all the time, Amber, can you come talk to my organization about nonprofit whatever? Yes, because I believe in you and I love you, and I'm a subject matter expert. So yes, I am going to come talk to your your college basketball team about why they should not start a nonprofit and have their mama run it. No, don't do it. Start with the donor advised fund and then do blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Because that's my contribution to community. So after you've gotten your staff to share their expertise, this is when you ask your friends and family, don't always ask them for money.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Don't always ask them to come and volunteer for an event. Ask them, Hey and so I know that you do financial planning. Can you come in and do something for my staff? The third thing you wanna do is if you have a little bit of money and you can't send everyone one person to get professional development, send them to a conference, send them to the training with the understanding that they have to come back and then share it with their staff. You've learned it and now you're gonna come back and share it with your staff and then you can rotate. Amber went for this training. Tiffany's gonna go for the next training. Charles is gonna go for the training after that and rotate. And it's their responsibility to come back and share what they've learned with the rest of the staff. Two things happens. Number one, you create accountability.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Number two, you're gonna make sure that they're gonna attend all of those sessions cuz people go to conferences and they're like, Ah, I'm not gonna go. If they know that they're gonna report out, they're gonna have to go to the sessions and then they're gonna report out. And then lastly, partner with another community-based organization. So if you've got a limited amount of funds, this organization has a limited amount of funds. This organization…pool your money together. Let's just say you wanna learn grant writing. If all three of those organizations came to me and said, Hey Amber, we want you to present to all three of our organizations. Bet. If you've got the facility, I'm gonna come. What's the difference in me presenting to one organization versus three? You guys can work it out amongst yourselves. How much you're gonna contribute to cover my fee.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Somebody's gonna host it at their facility and now you're not bearing the weight of all of the cost for me to come. You're sharing it with your community-based organizations. So that's how you create collaborations. That's how you create partnerships. But that's also how you divvy up the cost. Don't try and cover it all on your own. Other organizations may need the same type of training that your organization needs. So if you don't have community organizations that you're tight with, create a flyer and say, Hey, we've got expert veteran Amber Wynn coming in teaching how to write grants for $25. You can send your person over and learn and just blast it out to your community. Maybe they didn't know, or maybe it would cost way more if they'd done it on their own. So there's plenty of opportunities and that's a way to generate money.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
If you get enough, it may even give you a profit. So that webinar or workshop may cost you $250, but you get so many people that you raise 500, now you've got an additional two 50. So thinking outside of the box, but you still wanna try and find opportunities to help increase your staff skills and to bring in new resources to the organization. So thank you so much for that question, that was Ask Amber. And now it is time for my favorite part of the show where I get to highlight nonprofit organizations doing the work in the community. A lot of times, my nonprofit founders and executive directors are in the weeds doing the work, running the programs, carrying the world on your shoulders. And so I like to spotlight them and let the rest of the world know that they're out there doing the work. Today, we are going to focus on Center Theater Group. The Center Theater Group creates an extraordinary connection between artists and audiences that only starts on the stage. The theater creates the energy that feeds a city, a culture, and a society. Let's take a look at Center Theater Group.
Speaker 6 (25:07):
What Gordon kind of really wanted to give Los Angeles was a true reflection of the community.
Speaker 7 (25:17):
I always knew I was going to be an artist and a theater artist. And I dreamt for many years of having a monologue center stage in Moonlight and Susu gave me that.
Speaker 8 (25:31):
It was wonderful because now the audience was very diverse also. And it broke some molds. Old California, Los Angeles molds about race and all things cause it was a very diverse, one of the most diverse cities in America.
Speaker 9 (25:43):
You could go into one room, blacksmiths were there. You could go into another room, the Latino initiative, and it just wasn't for the sake of diversity because you guys really were curious about story.
Speaker 10 (25:56):
Wonderful playwrights, everybody takes a chance, which is what you have to do in life anyhow. But in your art, in your craft, you really have to be surrounded by people who are not afraid to explore.
Speaker 11 (26:11):
You get to be on stage with Felicity Huffman and people of that ilk every night with something different and new and wow, what's she doing there? I'll go there.
Speaker 12 (26:20):
If you got hired at the Mark Taper to do a play, it has somehow redeemed you…<laugh> validated you somehow as someone who was seriously interested in more than a TV career, <laugh>,
Speaker 14 (26:33):
It was so plugged in and there was a passion. And that was my favorite part of CTG, was the passion of the social and the political connection.
Speaker 15 (26:45):
It was not only good to do something at CTG, it was, and not only promising, it was likely to stir the pot in a very powerful way.
Speaker 16 (26:57):
This place, this stage, this building is where I first worked with female artistic leadership.
Speaker 17 (27:09):
It made it possible to be here, to feel that you could breathe and that you were nourished.
Speaker 18 (27:18):
Los Angeles audiences are very warm, they're very supportive, and it's great for 'em to act out here
Speaker 16 (27:27):
To a person that I worked with at that theater…They were warm, supportive, excited about the production. And so it was one of those experiences that lifted me and everybody else who was part of it.
Speaker 19 (27:43):
When the Taper and the Ahmanson and the Dorothy Chandler all sort of burst onto the scene, it was sort of like the Hawaiian volcanoes coming out of the Pacific.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
That's the Center Theater Group. The Center Theater Group proudly continues its 50-year tradition of using the art of theater to broaden horizons and illuminate new perspectives. Discover more at www.centertheatergroup.org. All right, so we're gonna keep it moving, and next we're going to move into Mindset Minute. My Mindset Minute sort of summarizes what we've been talking about today, which is combating burnout. And I want you to consider this. If you're dead, your mission dies. Now, burnout doesn't necessarily equate to death, but if you're burnt out and you close down your organization and it's no longer there, that is a death. That is a death of an organization. Those are resources that are no longer gonna be provided to the community that really, really needs you. And so because you carry the weight of the world on your shoulder, I want you just to consider that it is your responsibility to take care of you.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
As I said earlier in the episode, no one's gonna do it. We wait for people to come and say, Oh my goodness, you're what? You're working so hard. I appreciate you. I value you. Please take a day for yourself, please. It's not gonna happen. It's not gonna happen. And I don't want you to sit around and just burn yourself out waiting for somebody to acknowledge that you work hard, you know, work hard that you give your all. And because you know, I'm gonna say to you, I'm gonna challenge you to really just focus on taking care of you. Because when you take care of you, then that's how you take care of your community. It's not just about always being in motion. It's not just about always being in action and giving and giving and giving. You've got to take care of you so that you can take care of your community.
Speaker 2 (30:08):
So the other thing I want you to consider, if you have a staff, if you have volunteers, how you are, create your culture. So if you are moving and going, and that's the expectation that you have of your people, and that's not a healthy one. In our next episode, we're gonna talk about high turnover. And a lot of that comes from the top. How do you create the culture in your organization? Well, if you're giving and giving and giving and not taking and taking care of yourself, that's the culture you create. So I'm going to encourage you to prioritize health and wellness, not only in your life, but yes, especially in your life, but also in your organization. Yeah, that's what I'd have to say to you in this Mindset Minute. Make sure that you put you first, because when you put you first, that allows you to do what it is that you started your organization to do, which is to serve your community.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
I'm gonna say it one more time. If you're dead, your mission dies. And honey, we need you. We need to be around healthy and wealthy and alive. All right, so that's it for this week's episode. Thank you so much for joining me. If you felt that this episode was important, if there's a nonprofit leader out there that you know is on the verge of burnout, or if they keep working the way that they're working, they're gonna burn out…Make sure you share this episode with them because the world needs nonprofits and your girl, Amber Wynn, Philanthrepreneur, I'm here and I got you. All right. So until next week, I want you to take care of yourself, like you take care of your community.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
Thanks for listening. If you enjoy this episode, subscribe and leave a review on iTunes. Head over to www.amberwynn.net/podcast for the links and resources mentioned in today's podcast. See you next time.
