Bi-Weekly Wellbeing Brief: 1/26/2026
January 26 Overview:
This week’s brief is wedged between devastating sociopolitical realities: large-scale unrest and injustices in Minneapolis and beyond, engineered chaos clashing with organized defiance, critical funding cuts, mounting uncertainties, and immense community grief. What we know is that it is often organizers and nonprofit workers who are attempting to hold the fabric together. Right now, nonprofit work is particularly heavy. The stakes and the emotional toll are high. Even in these dark times, there are still meaningful signals that the sector is learning: wellbeing is a condition for achieving justice.
🪫 The B-word: What’s happening with Burnout?
Burnout is becoming increasingly understood as role-specific and impacted by how organizations are structured. Reporting from rural Washington highlights how an organization, Room One, is using strategic staff reorganization to reduce burnout tied to overload, misfit, and chronic stress in specific positions.
Certain job functions are also facing disproportionate strain. A recent analysis of nonprofit marketing (by Nakiyah Fears via NonProfit PRO) shows how staff in communications and fundraising roles experience relentless urgency, visibility pressure, and emotional labor—often without adequate staffing or recovery support. These dynamics create unique burnout patterns.
💭 Innovations & New Thinking
R&R: The Rest Of Our Lives ‘Break Week’ program offers grants and structured support for organizations to take a full, coordinated week off. This collective rest is designed to interrupt chronic stress and reset team norms.
A new article from Nonprofit Quarterly (written by Rusty Stahl of Fund the People) is advancing the idea of funding specifically earmarked for staff operations—covering salaries, benefits, systems, wellness, and more. As 2026 unfolds amid uncertainty, SOS funding could emerge as a critical practice for sustainability.
Inaugural events like Lead With Heart and Nonprofit Culture Fest are notable offerings, as they focus on nonprofit wellbeing as the core agenda. These spaces signal a cultural shift toward naming burnout and healing as central to nonprofit leadership.
The Portland-based Wellbeing Think Tank's annual summit highlights research-grounded approaches to workplace wellbeing, reinforcing that this work is strategic and measurable.
In response to federal cuts in New Hampshire, the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation is stepping in to fill gaps, including funding Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) and mental health supports for nonprofit staff with the recognition that workforce wellbeing is essential during political volatility.
📍 Local to San Diego
The San Diego Assessor/Recorder/County Clerk's office is hosting its inaugural Nonprofit Empowerment Summit on January 29th.
The Nonprofit Institute is hosting two webinars to release their annual State of Nonprofits and Philanthropy Report. You can join the February 11th waitlist, or join on February 12th.
✅ Quick Takeaways
Burnout can be shaped by roles, organizational systems and structuring, and even sociopolitical context
Collective rest and staff operating support are emerging as essential infrastructure
Certain nonprofit departments (like marketing and fundraising) face distinct burnout risks
Foundations are increasingly stepping in where federal funding falls short
Do Good Leadership Collective is a San Diego-based consultancy that helps social impact professionals Do Good and Be Well.
