Why Leader Well-Being is Critical to Your Nonprofit's Success

In the nonprofit sector, we put our passion first. We dream through the mission and vision statements we craft, the strategic plans we create, and the excited conversations we have with our organizations and our communities about the big-picture impact we want to make.

But let's be honest: Nonprofits rarely live or die because of their mission statements, they live or die by the day-to-day reality of where the vision meets reality on the ground. The impact happens in the child care centre, in the shelter, and in the sanctuary - and that's why it's important we talk about some of the unsung heroes of nonprofit success: Our front line leaders. They are the glue holding everything together - translating strategy into action, engaging their teams, and navigating the ever-changing demands of programs, fundraising, and community impact - and their well-being is under threat because of it.

In 2024, we collected data from over 1,500 of these front line nonprofit leaders - that first line of managers and supervisors guiding front-line teams. What we found might not be a big shock to those of us supporting the nonprofit sector, but it's a story that deserves to be told. Let's start with a worrying stat: 1 in 3 nonprofit leaders are experiencing burnout "Often" or "Extremely Often", which is notably higher than the average levels of burnout in front line nonprofit employees.

And if we lower that bar, the data suggests that 71% of nonprofit leaders are reporting burnout at least "Sometimes" in their roles. Seventy-one percent. That is almost three quarters of our nonprofit sector's leaders and thousands upon thousands of nonprofit leaders across Canada.

What does this mean in terms of impact? Let's let the data tell us. The World Health Organization defines burnout as a "syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed" and characterizes burnout by three dimensions: Feelings of exhaustion, feeling like you have less efficacy in your role, and increased cynicism about your work. We measured what that looks like in practice, scoring all three dimensions on a scale from 1 (Not at all) to 100 (Extremely Often) - Figure 2 allows you to toggle through all three dimensions and how they relate to the level of burnout leaders are experiencing.

Front line leaders who experience burnout "Extremely Often" score 4.5x higher on Ineffectiveness, 6x higher on Exhaustion, and 5x higher on Cynicism than leaders who don't experience burnout at all. The concept of burnout has evolved in the public discourse in the past few years, but this is an important reminder that burnout isn't only about exhaustion - burnt out leaders also feel significantly less effective in their roles and significantly more cynical in their roles too.

And if that isn't enough to sway you, let's talk turnover. Turnover is one of the biggest and least discussed expenses in the nonprofit sector. Across the 1,500 leaders we surveyed, 1 in 5 were considering leaving their role in the next six months, with the top three reasons being a desire for higher pay, a desire for more personal development, and you guessed it... burnout. Of the hundreds of leaders that were considering leaving their role, 49% of them cited burnout as a key reason.

Figure 3 illustrates this data in another way - nonprofit leaders reporting burnout "Extremely Often" were 5x more likely to consider leaving their role than leaders not reporting burnout at all. In a world where the cost of replacing a strong leader can rise to 200% of their salary, this should have alarm bells ringing across the sector.

If a nonprofit executive, I hope this data encourages you to see how investing in the well-being of your leaders isn't just a nice to have - it's a strategic imperative. Your on-the-ground leaders are the backbone of your organization and critical to translating your mission and strategy into tangible impact. Neglecting their well-being means neglecting the well-being of your organization. So where can you start? Here are some ways you can make an impact:

UNDERSTAND YOUR LEADERS' UNIQUE NEEDS
Community data is important because it provides insights across a wide range of organizations and demographics - but your own organization is unique, with its own strengths, challenges, and opportunities - including your leaders. While using this data to guide your leader well-being strategy is a good start, the most effective way to understand your leadership team's needs is to ask them directly.

Our YMCA WorkWell Insights Assessment takes under five minutes to complete and provides essential metrics on Well-Being, Culture, Engagement, Performance, and employee Net Promoter Score. Our burnout add-on also provides a detailed assessment of burnout in your organization along with its root causes. Our reports are designed to help leaders clearly identify the most pressing employee needs in their organization and the specific teams that require immediate support. Every report includes tailored consultations with our team, along with targeted recommendations. If you are concerned about well-being in your organization, collecting strong employee insights is a critical place to start.

Burnout has been a systemic challenge in a post-Covid economy, and especially in the nonprofit sector and workload is one of the clearest reasons why. When we ask burnt out leaders what they need more of to feel healthier at work, 50% cite a need for a more manageable workload - far and away the top need. This is supported by years of burnout research demonstrating that you can't tackle burnout without tackling workload too.

GET SERIOUS ABOUT WORKLOAD & BURNOUT
For leaders who are already acutely aware of workload challenges, a formal workload analysis is a great place to start. Our team at YMCA WorkWell offers tailored projects to support cross-functional teams in developing actionable recommendations. We work with your leaders to identify the most significant sources of workload and stress to identify the clearest upstream solutions to help your leaders shape most efficient and effective processes.

Thank you for taking this work seriously enough to have read this far. I'm a big believer that nonprofits are the backbone of our communities and that is why it means so much to me that our nonprofits across Canada have the tools and data they need to make the impact outlined in their missions. You've got this!

If you'd like to read more about the data we collect or the services we offer to support organizations - both nonprofit and for-profit alike - please feel free to reach out to me at dave.whiteside@ytr.ymca.ca any time. We've always got your back!