In a recent check in with one of the NC Center’s funders, I mentioned that we’ll soon be starting our summer Fridays, and this piqued her interest. From Memorial Day to Labor Day, Fridays are earmarked for deep work in the morning – allowing space for each staff member to increase their productivity and commitment to their projects, block out distractions, and get their creativity flowing – then the (highly-encouraged) option to log off between noon-2 pm to start the weekend early. Our staff anticipates the announcement every May!
The funder applauded this effort to think exclusively about staff health and wellness because pulse checks with nonprofits across the country over recent years unsurprisingly reveal that organizations are under increasing stress since, and even before, the 2020 COVID pandemic.
As the safety nets of so many communities, nonprofits face greater demands for services with less funding available to support their essential work. Add the widespread climate of fear, overreach, and scrutiny is prompting nonprofits to reframe programs – sometimes their missions – or cut programs altogether, and refocus more efforts on protecting the safety of their staff and board.
While nonprofits are innovate and scrappy, these compounding issues take their emotional and operational toll, straining not only the organizations themselves, but the people who run them.
In the Center for Effective Philanthropy’s recent 2026 State of Nonprofits report, 46% of nonprofit CEOs are concerned about their own burnout, on top of increasing burnout, low morale, and heightened levels of stress and fear reported by their staff.
Considering these factors, our funder asked what else the Center does for our staff. She encouraged us to share it because it’s one thing to talk about what organizations can do but quite another to actually do it and be a model for the sector.
We’ve built in time to just be together and do something low-key, like:
- Reserving time at the end of staff meetings and retreats for fun-only activities (laser tag can be a real stress buster).
- Regularly scheduling staff outings that are purely social.
We consistently check in on our workplace culture, and have also reworked employee policies to allow for flexibility and mental and physical rest, including:
- Fostering our hybrid work environment
- Respecting clear working hours and flexibility within those working hours. We’re all human and have lives outside of work. We don’t expect immediate responses to every email/message or for our team to work after-hours.
- Inviting staff to share feedback on their workload, stress level, wins, and challenges each week through our informal morale survey.
- Closing our office for the last week of the year.
- Allowing banked sick time to be used if staff need to check out for a day to rest and reset.
- Offering 30-day sabbaticals for staff after 10 years of service, and every 5 years thereafter.
We’re also intentional about providing the highest-quality insurance and employee benefits that our budget allows. We know this isn’t easy for nonprofits – including us – but our new association health plan has really been beneficial here.
- Health insurance for every staff member and their families, which includes an EAP.
- Ancillary benefits like a retirement plan, life insurance, and long-term care for staff members and their families.
I think many of us know it’s imperative to take care of ourselves and our staff. At our annual Member Meeting last month, it was a pointed topic of discussion during the panel, and other leaders shared what they’re doing for their own staff’s health and wellness.
We’re partnering with BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina Foundation on a toolkit that will help organizations understand what it means to support staff wellness and implement ideas to do so – stay tuned for its release in the coming weeks.
We recognize that every organization is different and while the work is rewarding, it’s also difficult and challenging at times. But nonprofits can – and should – commit to doing what fits with your organization to take care of your people. So I challenge you, my nonprofit colleagues: what does staff wellness and well-being look like in your own organization?
