When doing good starts to feel bad: Protecting your own mental health as a fundraiser
By Kurstin Finch Gnehm, Senior Partner, Cairney & Company
I love being a fundraiser. But not long ago, I nearly burned out.
I’ve been a fundraiser for almost 20 years. I was working in a senior role I loved, doing meaningful work and achieving my targets—but I was absolutely spent. Depleted. I had lost my spark, my confidence, and, for a while, my faith in the profession I care so deeply about.
Part of this was a long-standing, diagnosed tendency toward depression and anxiety, which I manage with medication and therapy. But part of it was the unrelenting emotional pressure that comes with being a fundraiser: always giving, always caring, always carrying the weight of donor expectations. I didn't realise I could ask for help. I was so worried about being seen as unreliable. And so I left a job I loved—just to take the break I desperately needed.
As employees and team leaders, there are things we can each do to prevent this. This week especially, as it is Mental Health Awareness Week, it is our responsibility to normalise this experience and to take the steps to safeguard ourselves and our teams.
The unspoken strain
I truly believe fundraising is a "calling"—a career for those of us who are passionate, driven, high achievers with a desire to do good. I think of myself as a true believer. But we rarely talk about the cost of that passion.
When I talk about this at CASE Europe’s Spring Institute, I talk about the fact that today’s fundraising environment brings with it a unique set of mental health challenges:
Digital presenteeism: The pressure to always be online, always available
Emotional labour: Managing relationships that are deeply personal and high-stakes
Executive function strain: Juggling a hundred complex tasks and expectations
Burnout, microstrain, mental load: Slow-drip stress that accumulates until something cracks
When we don’t name these challenges, we risk letting them define us in silence. And in turn they define the career, leading to the high rate of turnover we see in the profession today.
What grounds you? What shakes you?
One tool I use is the idea of your mental health tree—a simple metaphor to help identify what supports us and what makes us vulnerable.
Ask yourself:
What keeps you grounded? (your roots)
What makes you feel fragile? (your leaves)
What lifts you up? (your branches)
For me:
Keeps me grounded: My partner, my dog, time alone, the belief that I’m doing something meaningful, closing the laptop at 5pm
Makes me fragile: Imposter syndrome, people-pleasing, taking on too much
Lifts me up: My “niblings”, running, professional communities
When my tree starts to feel like it’s all leaves, it’s time for a run or to check the niblings’ Instagram accounts. Or even a little break – to prevent a big one.
If your tree feels wobbly, you're not alone. And if you're managing a team of wobbly trees, that’s a signal to act—early and with compassion.
Building a profession that cares for people
At the CASE Spring Institute in Educational Fundraising this year, we explored how to create compassionate spaces in fundraising. Some ideas we discussed:
Open conversations about mental health—start normalising them
Learn to set boundaries, for yourself and your team
Prioritise psychological safety over performative hustle
Watch for signs of burnout—in yourself and in others
Offer professional support, or just a kind check-in
Being a fundraiser is a privilege and a joy. As leaders, colleagues, and peers, we have a responsibility to make this profession sustainable. Action now will lead to less turnover, more job satisfaction and stronger, more effective teams.
Support, not sacrifice
I share my story not because it’s unique, but because it’s not.
Too many fundraisers are running on empty, thinking it’s normal to feel this way. It’s not. We deserve support. We deserve boundaries. Everyone deserves a career that energises you—not one that quietly breaks you.
You can be the change. Learn more about what causes burnout as a fundraiser and what you can do to prevent the signs in you and in the teams you manage.
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