Nonprofit Leaders Cite Burnout as a Top Concern in a New Study on the State of U.S. Nonprofits

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May 29, 2024, 09:15 ET

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., May 29, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- A new study released today by The Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) reveals that burnout and staffing issues continue to plague nonprofits, that nonprofit leaders are increasingly worried about their own burnout, and that burnout is impacting their organization's ability to achieve its mission. This is a crisis not just for nonprofits, but for the communities and people they serve.

"As a nonprofit leader, you're working on stubborn, difficult issues, and we depend on these organizations to do heroic work like they did in the wake of the pandemic," said Elisha Smith Arrillaga, vice president, Research, at CEP. "But people can't do this forever and we'll pay a price as a society if we can't step up."

The study, "State of Nonprofits 2024: What Funders Need to Know," is based on survey responses from 239 nonprofit leaders and reveals:

95% of leaders express some level of concern about burnout, and 34% report that staff burnout has been "very much" a concern to them in the last year.
Almost 60% of nonprofit leaders identify staff-related concerns as one of their organization's biggest challenges.
76% of surveyed leaders indicate that burnout among their staff is at least slightly impacting their organization's ability to achieve its mission.

The report also found that most nonprofits report strong financial outlooks and that the majority of nonprofit leaders report their funders are maintaining or making new commitments to improve their grantmaking practices.

"It is heartening to see that foundations have continued to sustain and build on changes in their processes as well as in their provision of unrestricted funding," said Phil Buchanan, president of CEP and author of Giving Done Right. "At the same time, there is reason for concern that some of the energy among funders related to a focus on racial equity in the wake of the summer of 2020 has dissipated."

Read the full report at https://cep.org/report-backpacks/state-of-nonprofits-2024-what-funders-need-to-know/.

About CEP

The Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) is a nonprofit organization with a mission to provide data, feedback, programs, and insights to help individual and institutional donors improve their effectiveness. We do this work because we believe effective donors, working collaboratively and thoughtfully, can profoundly contribute to creating a better and more just world. For more information on CEP's work, visit cep.org.

SOURCE Center For Effective Philanthropy