For anyone hoping that burnout in the nonprofit sector was a pandemic-era phenomenon that would recede like mask-wearing and social distancing, the latest report from the Center for Effective Philanthropy offers little reason for hope.
On the contrary, the center’s second annual look at the state of nonprofits found continuing worry about burnout. Sixty-nine percent of charity leaders said they were somewhat or very concerned about staff burnout, a slightly higher share than last year, when the center surveyed the same group of charities.
The report, “The State of Nonprofits 2024: What Funders Need to Know,” is based on survey responses from leaders of 239 charities that receive at least some foundation support. The survey found that nonprofit leaders are also anxious about their own burnout. A third said that they were very concerned about burning out, and half said they were more concerned about their own burnout than a year ago.
The findings are similar to those found in the Chronicle’s own survey of more than 350 nonprofit leaders, conducted earlier this year. More than half of respondents told the Chronicle that they struggle to maintain work-life balance, and 88 percent agreed with the statement that “the demands made on nonprofit CEOs, executive directors, and presidents are never-ending.”
“For folks who led organizations through Covid and are still leading those organizations, they have the stresses of that, along with the external political stresses right now on nonprofits, especially on those that are doing work around race and equity,” says Elisha Smith Arrillaga, the Center for Effective Philanthropy’s vice president for research. “It’s just a really complex moment to be leading an organization.”
The center’s report also found that charities continue to face challenges hiring employees. Nearly half of respondents said they were having “some difficulty” or “a lot of difficulty” filling vacancies. Sixty percent of charity leaders cited concerns related to staffing — such as staff burnout or losing staff to other employees offering higher compensation — as their organization’s biggest challenge.
More Groups Had Deficits
Even as the use of artificial intelligence becomes more common in the nonprofit sector, few organizations have official policies governing its use, the survey found. Roughly a third of respondents said they use A.I. in internal productivity and another third in marketing, and about a quarter are using it for fundraising. But only 7 percent of respondents said their organizations had created any official policies prohibiting or permitting the use of AI.
“We’re all still trying to figure out what policy should apply when and for what,” Smith Arrillaga says.
The report also asked about charities’ finances. While the overall picture looks good — more than half of respondents reported breaking even or earning a surplus in their current fiscal year — the survey found one sign of concern. Of the 176 organizations that responded to the center’s survey in both 2023 and 2024, 28 percent reported experiencing a budget deficit in their most recent fiscal year, up from just 19 percent in last year’s survey.
Lower-than-expected individual giving and higher-than-expected costs were the primary causes cited by leaders whose organizations experienced a budget deficit.
“It remains to be seen whether this constitutes a longer-term trend,” says Christina Im, a senior research analyst at the center and one of the report’s authors.
