Each month, this newsletter holds a new theme from the sector. June's is the people side, and I am starting with the part of it that lives underneath the surface.
Burnout in this sector wears a different face than it does in any other.
The work isn't just what you do. Somewhere along the way, for many of us, the mission gets folded into a sense of who we are. The line between I do this work and I am this work can become harder to find.
The symptoms show up the same way they do everywhere else. Sleep that doesn't restore. A short fuse with people you love. Inboxes that quietly stop getting answered. The systems underneath are familiar too. Workloads that grow faster than capacity. Funding cycles that demand more from teams already at the edge. Roles where the work resets every Monday no matter how much got done on Friday.
What doesn't show up in the typical burnout article is the part underneath the symptoms and the systems. Stepping back can sometimes feel like betrayal in our sector. Betrayal of the people you serve. Betrayal of the colleagues who showed up beside you. Betrayal of the version of yourself who once promised this would never become just a job.
Naming this does not solve it. What naming does is loosen the grip. Knowing the hard part of pulling back is not your discipline failing, but instead, is your identity doing exactly what identity does - make room for a different kind of choice. The choice to tend to yourself so the work can keep being done, and done well. That choice is a part of the mission, not separate from it.
— Aubrey
Coming Up
COMMUNITY MEETING
Date: June 11th, 2026
Location: Lena Pope
Time: 8:00 am - 9:30 am
We'll talk about what healthy team dynamics actually look like in practice, how to recognize when energy is shifting on your team, and how to set boundaries that protect both the people and the mission.
CONNECTION CIRCLE
Date: June 16th, 2026
Location: Tarrant Area Food Bank
Time: 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
We'll talk about what healthy team dynamics actually look like in practice, how to recognize when energy is shifting on your team, and how to set boundaries that protect both the people and the mission.
CONNECTION CIRCLE
Date: July 9th, 2026
Location: Tarrant Area Food Bank
Time: 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
We’ll talk about where money comes from, what an organizational mix typically looks like and how it shapes the work, and what you can start to notice in patterns, even when you aren't the one writing the budget.
COMMUNITY MEETING
Date: July 16th, 2026
Location: The Cause Agency
Time: 8:00 am - 9:30 am
We'll explore the full landscape of how nonprofits are funded, from grants and individual giving to earned income and government contracts, and talk about how each funding type shapes what organizations can and can't do. We'll also dig into the donor journey and donor strategy, looking at how relationships with funders develop over time and what thoughtful stewardship looks like in practice.
Sector News
The Building Movement Project's Race to Lead research, hosted on Candid, makes a point worth carrying. Burnout for front line nonprofit staff is not driven by workload alone. It is shaped by whether the people doing the work have voice, recognition, and a real path forward, three things a connected community is well positioned to help build.
The Center for Effective Philanthropy’s recent State of Nonprofits reports (2025–2026) show that burnout remains universal across the sector, with nearly all nonprofit leaders continuing to express concern about staff burnout and its impact on their work.
While earlier findings in 2024 indicated that 76% of leaders believed burnout was affecting their organization's ability to achieve its mission, more recent research suggests the issue has not eased. Instead, it has become more deeply embedded and, in some cases, more severe.
The most important takeaway to carry is that burnout is not usually an individual experience. It is a structural and mission-level challenge. The hardest part of this work is convincing yourself you are the only one carrying it. But you aren’t. Later this month, we meeting at Lena Pope to discuss lean into this topic, trade what is working, and leave with something steadier than what we walk in with.
One Thing to Try
Counting the Wins
Open the notes app on your phone, or pull out your planner. Label a new page, a new note, or a new tab as Wins. Each day, during meetings, or right before you head home at the end of a long week, write down three things from the week that went well - what you’re most proud of.
The constituent who came back for a second session, a second meeting, or returned your call. The grant draft that is now at a place you’re comfortable with or the grant you finally submitted.
The point is not to build a brag list. The point is to give yourself proof, in your own handwriting or your own typing, that the work moved forward. Identity wrapped around mission has a habit of telling you that you did not do enough or that you could have done more. A short list, kept over time, is one of the simplest ways to push back on that voice with evidence. To show yourself that you are doing what you can, with what you have, and that every small moment counts.
From the Community
Community Connection is where we encourage you to share what you need and what you have to offer within the categories we currently support. Open roles. Board seats. Volunteer opportunities. Events worth showing up for.
It is a shared space that connects the organizations doing the work with the professionals ready to join it, strengthen it, and grow alongside it.
Strategy & Learning Sessions
☕ Free Nonprofit Strategy Session with BizBrainstorm
This free, two-hour strategy session brings together volunteer experts from across industries to work alongside nonprofit leadership teams on your most pressing opportunities and obstacles. The format is hands-on and collaborative, designed to generate real clarity and momentum rather than general advice.
Organizations that participate also receive a small donation and often walk away with a group of engaged champions who stay invested in their work long after the session ends. BizBrainstorm hosts one to two nonprofits per month, and the application process is open now.
Note: Participating organizations must be on the list of Fidelity Investments’ Donor Advised Funds. No cost involved.
📖 Learning Resources with AFP Fort Worth
Have you heard about AFP Fort Worth and want to learn more? Did you know that AFP Fort Worth now has Free Monthly webinars for members and $10 for non-members?
Reach out to Olivia Jane Barhorst, MNLM, CFRE, for questions about membership, scholarships, and more. Olivia is on the AFP Fort Worth Board of Directors as Director of Education and also serves as a Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) International Ambassador and can answer professional development questions.
📝 Grant Training Program with City of Fort Worth
Pathways to Partnership is a grant training initiative hosted by the City of Fort Worth that supports small and emerging nonprofits in becoming grant-ready. This program does not guarantee funding; instead, it is designed to inform, prepare, and equip community partners with the knowledge and tools needed to successfully pursue federal grant opportunities.
The program is intended for organizations with annual budgets of $250,000 or less, those that have previously been denied funding—particularly through a Fort Worth RFP—or nonprofits that are newly established and seeking to better understand funding opportunities.
Participants will receive guidance on the City’s application process, HUD grant requirements, compliance expectations, software tools, and strategies for strengthening organizational and financial capacity.
🤝 Bold For Gold Tour 3K Walk & Community Celebration | Jacob Way Organization Saturday, December 5, 2026 | Bob Cooke Park, Arlington, TX
This December, Jacob Way Organization is making history, launching the national Bold For Gold Tour right here in Arlington. This is more than a walk. It is a community celebration built to shine a light on childhood cancer while spreading holiday cheer, presented in partnership with Arlington Parks and Recreation at the East Recreation Center.
The morning turns Bob Cooke Park gold with a scenic 3K walk, a Community Resource Fair, music, and plenty of philanthropy. Here is what to look forward to:
The 3K Community Walk is a safe, paved 1.8-mile course through Bob Cooke Park, and strollers, walkers, and joggers are all welcome. Along the way, the Stuff the Sleigh Drive invites you to bring new socks, board games, or tech accessories to fill a vehicle parked at the starting line, with 100% of items going to local pediatric cancer patients. The Community Resource Fair, before and after the walk in the East Rec Center Hall, connects you with local businesses, free samples, and vital community services. And the Celebration keeps the morning going with a hot cocoa station, a live DJ, and a signature line dance to close it out.
There are two easy ways to show up. You can join the Roots to Leadership team and walk alongside us, or build your own team and bring your people together for the cause. Either way, you are part of a day built around hope, community, and the families this work supports.
A Final Note
Caring for yourself is not a pause from the mission. It is part of how the mission keeps moving.
Until next time,
Founder & Executive Director
Empowering nonprofit leaders to grow and lead with purpose.
