Mental Health and Fundraising

BONUS NEWSLETTER – This one isn’t funny, but it is important.

I am a passionate supporter of people talking about their mental health. We all have mental health, just like physical health.

I have shared previously that I have poor mental health, I have lived with depression on and off throughout my adult life.

The best treatment for me is to talk about it. Usually talking at someone rather than having a conversation, it just helps me get things out in the open.

I am not sure if my openness about my mental health results in having more conversations with candidates about their own mental health, but it happens often. I am glad these strangers feel comfortable sharing their stories with me.

I spend my days talking to fundraisers, dozens of them a week. I hear about their lives, their families, and their passions. Most of all I hear about their careers, and their jobs.

The saddest part of my job, by far, is hearing about the struggles that fundraisers face in their lives. The nature of my role is that I hear about those issues stemming from their jobs. Many of these challenges are preventable.

I cannot overstate the impact that fundraising jobs are having on a huge number of candidates. Fundraising is hard, the resilience needed to get past all the no’s and get the yes’s is huge. I don’t think a single fundraiser would be able to say it’s always been easy.

The intense challenges fundraisers face are inherent in their roles; if fundraising were easy, we wouldn't require professionals.

What isn’t inherent in these roles is undue pressure from managers and chief executives. As a sector we talk about the support and wellbeing services we offer but are we actively working to make things better. Passive isn’t good enough.

• Are we truly there for our teams?
• Do we support staff more than providing a wellbeing app?
• ?Are we actively working to improve people mental health?
• Can we reduce the pressure on people who are already in a high-pressure job?
• Are people given the space to share?
• Do we offer flexible work arrangements that promote work-life balance?
• Do we actively promote a supportive and inclusive work environment?
• Have we assessed and addressed potential workplace stressors, such as high workloads, unrealistic targets, or inadequate resources?

If there is more than just you in your organisation, I implore you to ask yourself those questions.

Are you doing the best for your team? Can you do more??