Bi-Weekly Wellbeing Brief: 11/10/2025
November 10 Overview:
Burnout remains an epidemic in the nonprofit and social-impact sector, although innovations are steadily gaining more attention and momentum across the country. Funders, organizations and leadership teams are shifting from simply acknowledging the problem to testing structural responses.
🪫 The B-word: What’s happening with Burnout?
The last edition of the Bi-Weekly Wellbeing Brief (OCT 28) included articles that showcased survey results and stories of nonprofit burnout risk. This edition's featured articles pair burnout data with some bright and innovative solutions. Collectively, these articles shared that burnout is now a sector-wide crisis that requires a systemic approach. Several promising approaches have emerged these last two weeks. Learn more about what we discovered in the next section.
💭 Innovations & New Thinking
The Colorado Health Foundation launched its sabbatical program, in which up to 5 sabbaticals in the form of a grant of $100,000 will be offered to support a 3-4 month hiatus for an executive. The support also includes interim leadership support and staff capacity building.
The Powering Milwaukee Forward initiative is investing philanthropic dollars to bear on social-determinants and organizational resilience—10 local nonprofits received $1 million in grants, which include funds to support the wellbeing and resilience of “nonprofit caregivers.” Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is the founder of one of the foundations behind the initiative, said, “...I know firsthand how vital it is to have support when you’re carrying the weight of others. That’s why I’m proud Powering Milwaukee Forward is investing in the mental wellness and resilience of frontline nonprofit workers. These are the kind of people who showed up for me and my family when we needed it most, and now it’s my turn to show up for them. They deserve to receive the same strength and care they give to others.”
In Philadelphia, a “Call to Wellness” campaign convened nonprofit leaders for a two-day wellness and strategy summit, launching a Nonprofit Wellness Toolkit and on-site support for nonprofit workers across the region. Groups like the United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey's Center for Leadership Equity, Black Nonprofit Chief Executives of Philadelphia, ImpactED and Creative Praxis organized these efforts to shift wellness away from being an afterthought, and towards building wellness into the infrastructure of nonprofit work.
Although we were not able to access the full link due to a paywall, a headline from the The Chronicle of Philanthropy named that the Meyer Foundation has committed over $2 million in funding to fight charity leader burnout in Washington-area nonprofits.
📍 Local to San Diego
On November 6, San Diego’s Do Good Leadership Collective and national organization Fund the People hosted “Reflect. Reimagine. Recommit: Protecting San Diego’s Nonprofit Workforce.” This local conversation included leaders from nonprofits, foundations, and intermediaries to envision what workforce equity and wellbeing could look like in the region. In the same week, Fund the People released their concept paper for the S.O.S. Grants: Staff Operating Support. This new type of grantmaking can help nonprofits navigate new types of crises.
✅ Quick Takeaways
Burnout is no longer just a personal story or personal issue. It is now (and has always been) a systems issue.
Effective burnout responses include: rest-oriented funding (e.g., sabbaticals), wellbeing toolkits made accessible to organizations within a region, and grantmaking tied to capacity and care–not just program output.
San Diego’s nonprofit ecosystem is ripe for translation of these innovations, whether it be experimenting with more sabbatical grants, or launching wellness campaigns or toolkits.
A question that both leaders and organizations might consider asking is, “What funding, policies or practices can support my team to flourish, not just endure?” At Do Good Leadership Collective, we have a library of blogs on how to build Cultures of Wellbeing. These blogs include additional questions that leaders can begin asking, as well as other wellbeing resources to support their teams in weathering the now.
Do Good Leadership Collective is a San Diego-based consultancy that helps social impact professionals Do Good and Be Well.
