Wellbeing and fundraising

The global coronavirus pandemic has caused immense distress and uncertainty, uprooting people’s professional and personal lives, inhibiting their ability to do their job well and making stress and burn out even more likely. This pushes health and wellbeing even higher up the agenda.

The impact of COVID-19 is varied and ongoing. For some fundraisers, a big issue will be working from home and the balancing or blurring of professional and personal life. Homeschooling, uncomfortable and cramped working conditions, or a feeling of isolation or dislocation from a lack of daily contact with colleagues could all be detrimental to wellbeing. At the same time, the need to fundraise and the pressing awareness of how vital fundraised income is, or worries and uncertainty of fundraising in new and unfamiliar ways, will all be likely to have an impact too.

Changes in fundraising teams, redundancies, new responsibilities, or furloughing, are all things that many fundraisers will have had to contend with as well. Some people might feel energised and motivated at ‘stepping up to the challenge’, others may be overwhelmed or need help at a time where their usual networks or support isn’t available.

The pressures of COVID-19 are not the same to all, but also will change over time for people. The impact on wellbeing is not one thing – it is fluid. Just because someone seems to be coping ok with immediate change doesn’t mean that 6 months on there hasn’t been a cumulative impact.

• Understand and be mindful of the personal situation and home-life of your team. If people have young children, they may be starting homeschooling or on a nursery run first thing, so perhaps avoid 9am or 5pm meetings or deadlines. Flexibility which works for the person, supports their wellbeing, and enables them to do their job in the best way should be adopted wherever possible.
• Equality, diversity and inclusion and wellbeing is hugely important. Not everyone’s idea of wellbeing, or the initiatives that support wellbeing, are the same. Avoid making assumptions about what supports wellbeing, ask your teams what they would value and welcome, and remember that this can change over time.
• Are you exhibiting and practising the behaviours that you promote? A stressed manager will often make for a stressed team, so supporting your wellbeing will help to support others’ too. Sometimes a leader needs to model the behaviours they want to see in others – and sometimes people need to see their manager walking the walk to give them the reassurance and confidence that it’s ok for them to do so as well.

• If you’ve been furloughed or been made redundant, there’s lots of support out there, from Chartered Institute support, as well as our national, regional and special interest groups through to informal networks on WhatsApp and Facebook. Your colleagues across the sector will support you and have lots of advice! Furloughing should never be taken as a slight to your skills or role – it’s a forced choice for charities in response to an unprecedented situation.
• Talk to your managers and colleagues. You are much more likely to find a way forward that can help support your wellbeing by talking it through. While not all charities have the same internal resource, everyone should be able to rely on an empathetic response and a proactive approach to help.
• How can you plan and manage your day in a way that works best for you? Fresh air, exercise, talking to a friend, or taking time away from the laptop or phone-screen can all help. Everyone has different rhythms during the day, some people work better in the morning, some later in the afternoon – think about how and what helps you feel more positive and speak to your colleagues about how you can incorporate that into your day.

There are many wonderful things about the fundraising profession, not least the passion that drives people to invest their time, energy and career in ensuring organisations with a social purpose have the funding they need to thrive and develop in new and exciting ways to raise money for vital causes. It can be extremely rewarding. But that doesn’t mean it’s an easy job, or one that others (even inside charities) automatically understand.

In fact, that commitment to a cause that fundraisers truly care about and a desire for their organisation to be able to provide the services and work that others rely on, may well add to a feeling of pressure, responsibility, or stress. Sometimes that pressure might come in the form of a CEO or trustee who wants to know if they’ll hit their targets. Or it might be as a result of a closeness with a service delivery team that they see every day, which means that fundraisers have a deep insight and know how much of a difference raising that extra money will make in the care they can give.

Fundraisers may have to deal with graphic, upsetting, and emotionally triggering issues and content on a daily basis – this could be from direct testimonies with clients/beneficiaries, or from research studies and news reports. Finding the most compelling stories to use in fundraising campaigns may well mean that fundraisers need to go through a range of visual, auditory, or written examples which could feel overwhelming.

In many cases, it is because as fundraising professionals for charities there is a deeply emotive cause at stake, one that we know will make a profound and lasting difference to people and communities. Fundraisers will have a professional outlook and approach, but that doesn’t mean that feelings and emotions aren’t part of a fundraiser’s daily work too. And so they should be – the emotion and connection is what so often makes a fundraising appeal inspirational and resonates with supporters, and means those conversations with supporters are real and authentic.

Understanding the link between a fundraiser’s role and wellbeing does in no way mean that we lose that emotional connection or that desire to succeed. But it does mean that it should be managed appropriately and nurtured with care. Often charities will have support, processes, or resources available for care and service delivery teams – it’s worth considering how this can be accessed by fundraisers too.

There are also aspects of a fundraiser’s job that inevitably don’t fit into a straightforward 9-5 day, or a Monday-Friday working week. Unexpected disasters or emergency appeals, weekend events, meetings with supporters in the evenings, or short funding deadlines can all mean that work plans have to be changed.

A positive and healthy working environment that champions wellbeing will have processes in place that directly and indirectly supports and prioritises people’s work/life balance, wellbeing and mental health. This might include a culture that encourages people to discuss concerns openly, training and support to equip people in their professional roles, an effective strategy and planning process, managerial training for those that guide others, and flexibility in relation to working hours and home-working.

• How well do you understand the day to day roles and activities of your fundraisers? Spend time with your fundraisers to get a better appreciation of their working day. Perhaps spend an hour on the phone responding to calls from supporters, or help out in preparing for a big fundraising event to get a sense of pressures they might be under.
• When new or unexpected things occur (an emergency appeal, for example), talk with your fundraisers about how it will impact their work, as well as any issues it might raise for their personal life and how these can be managed and mitigated as much as possible. Come to a plan together about how the new work can be managed in a way that does not make weeks or months of plans on other work redundant.
• Review your policies around flexible working, time off in lieu, and contracts. With ever-more increasing ability to communicate through multiple platforms and at different times, some working practices may need to be updated. Think about how this impacts different teams and roles – for example, digital/social media professionals who may be responding to notifications, responses, and questions at weekends or evenings.
• Fundraisers are often highly-organised individuals and work best when they know what the goal is, what the steps to success are and how their work is going to be reviewed and measured. As a manager, try to provide the appropriate planning process – ideally within an organisational strategy with a clear vision, mission and value-set – and a strong fundraising case for support which meets a need and a clear budget and a method of monitoring impact. Working without these basic foundations can be a really stressful environment for a fundraiser.
• Put wellbeing into your induction programmes for new starters – make clear what support they can access as well as setting out the importance of wellbeing for fundraisers and your organisation’s approach to supporting this.

• Your connection and commitment to the cause you are raising money for is something to be proud of and nurture. But you can’t carry the weight of the whole organisation’s survival and the delivery of services on your shoulders alone. Seek support and talk to colleagues about the ways of managing your emotional connection positively, and the behaviours you could adopt that can mitigate them turning into something detrimental to your work.
• Be honest with your colleagues and manager – they may struggle to understand any pressure you’re under if they don’t have the full picture. If you spent a whole evening working on a funding application, tell your manager (or preferably, talk to them in advance and agree how it can be managed!).
• Don’t think that you have to keep your personal or home life private. It’s part of who you are and we can’t (and shouldn’t) have to completely separate out what’s happening to us as people with what we do as a professional. Managers and colleagues will want to understand and respond to any personal issues, or adapt flexibly where they can around what works for you.

Research from Charity Well, produced in 2019, into fundraisers’ wellbeing showed that almost nine in ten fundraisers identified a great sense of pride in working with their charity and six in ten recommend their charity as a good employer. And yet, poor management and leadership was the over-riding issue impacting fundraiser wellbeing.

Most commonly, fundraisers felt that managers lacked management skills or experience. Little understanding of fundraising or advocacy for it at an organisational level were also cited, along with a sense of being alone in the role. While workloads, unrealistic targets and a lack of training were highlighted in the study, there were also worrying references to bullying, one-way flexibility, a blame culture, sexual harassment, racism and homophobia, all of which can be extremely damaging.

As a profession which has an under-representation of black, Asian and minority ethnic fundraisers, disabled people, people who are LGBTI+, and an unequal gender balance, it’s important to ensure that the wellbeing of everyone is taken into account, and important to recognise and respond to the fact that wellbeing (and the things that support, or impact on, wellbeing) are not the same for everyone. Some people may feel isolated within the organisation, whether that is due to their gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, health, mental health or any other factor.

Be aware that some interventions, even if well-intended, could have a detrimental impact if they are felt by some to be inappropriate or reinforcing a ‘one size fits all’ approach. Through our Change Collective Strategy, we’re working hard to support the growth of a more equal, diverse and inclusive profession. You can find out more here.

Resilience is a useful and valuable trait that fundraisers may well want to develop to help them to respond positively to challenges in their work. But it is important – for both individual fundraisers and managers - to not fall into thinking that the answer to any issues of wellbeing is for an individual to be more resilient.

A focus only on building up the resilience of individual fundraisers puts too much emphasis on it being an individual’s problem that they need to overcome, rather than properly understanding the systemic, cultural or behavioural issues– that research tells us are bigger contributors that impact on wellbeing. If there is ongoing poor management, an expectation of working long hours, setting of unrealistic targets, and a debilitating culture within an organisation, these must be addressed.

Building up a fundraiser’s resilience and developing skills and approaches to responding to challenges or set-backs they experience is a valuable way to enable fundraisers to manage situations and respond to setbacks or challenges. But it should be one part of a whole approach within organisations which needs to go alongside ongoing review and emphasis on responding to the issues or causes that are directly impacting wellbeing for fundraisers, not just on how an individual should be coping with them.

People may well experience doubts or challenges at points through their careers and have times where they may need extra help or support to help their confidence and self-belief. This should never be thought of as a weakness or a flaw – everyone, in every career, will have moments of doubt or feel that they need some additional support. Normalising this, rather than it being a problem that requires a solution, or seeing it as something exceptional, can go a long way to demonstrating that wellbeing is relevant and important to everyone. Managers can talk about how they have progressed in their career and the support they have leant on or accessed – whether that’s through their workplace or more informal networks.

One common experience is imposter syndrome which can accompany a promotion or new job – and a focus on ‘fundraiser resilience’ could reinforce feelings of doubt or add extra pressure onto an individual at a stressful time. Reframing this as a positive – an opportunity of learning and development, or the prompt needed to talk to colleagues, a manager, peers, or a friend about your feelings and thoughts may help.

Like all employers, charities have a legal responsibility – a fundamental duty of care – to look after their people. This means doing all they reasonably can to support employees’ health, safety and wellbeing, including providing a safe working environment, protecting staff from discrimination and carrying out risk assessments. Boards of trustees have a key role here in ensuring organisations are safe places to work and that practices and behaviour are in line with the values of the organisation.  A key part of this is appropriate safeguarding (which you can read more about here).

Colleagues and managers should be mindful of how their actions and behaviour can impact on others. This includes a whole range of things – from ensuring that people aren’t being asked to do something that is way outside their job description and inappropriate for their role, through to the setting of realistic and fair targets or key performance indicators, as well as the language used in both verbal and written communications.

• Managing people and teams is not easy! Have you had the support or training that you need to help you? Many charities have internal programmes or resources, or can support you to seek external training.
• The management planning cycle is an essential operating tool for all fundraising managers, to ensure effective line-management and team delivery as well as alleviate workforce stress. Basic content for this includes annual appraisal, setting of key performance indicators and creating a personal development plan in partnership with each of your team members to ensure they are able to learn and grow in their roles to achieve their goals. This should be backed up with regular one-to-one meetings – which is the time to monitor and check on progress as well as raise any concerns as well as recognition of successes.
• Be mindful of your language and approach – especially when colleagues are working from home. An email saying ‘get me this as soon as possible’ can be read by the recipient as needing to respond immediately, or could be taken as ‘when it works for me’. And if you are an early riser and start work early, think about how one of your colleagues feels if they start the day with five emails at the top of their inbox from you.
• In fundraising, a factor impacting wellbeing may be your colleagues’ relationships and interactions with other partners, third parties, or supporters. Your philanthropy manager might have to juggle some demanding higher value givers, or your supporter care colleagues might have some hard or distressing calls to respond to. Your duty of care extends to more than your own immediate working relationship with a colleague, and might require you to step in to help out on difficult conversations or support fundraisers to manage complex relationships.

• Review your role, job description, and contract of employment if you are concerned about the nature of the tasks or interactions with your managers or colleagues.
• Optimise your own management support planning cycle. Are you prepared for your regular one-to-ones with your line-manager? Have you created a monthly report and outcomes tool to monitor your own progress – particularly important if you work in a small, new or under-resourced organisation whose systems are in infancy. You can most definitely be proactive, to help manage your own stress levels and ensure you are communicating well and flagging up issues of concerns (or even great stories or progress and positive results) during your supervision-support meetings. They are your meetings and your chance to communicate fully.
• Speak to your HR manager or team if you have any concerns at all, and if you need to, review or seek any further professional advice around employment law or mediation/support.
• Seek out opportunities to raise any issues in an appropriate way – this could include at a staff forum, an anonymous ‘whistleblowing’ procedure, or a one to one conversation with a director, CEO, or trustee.

Although fundraising is often a responsive and fast-moving profession, there are ways that organisations and individuals can approach unexpected work or managing key events that can help pressure on individuals.

Look ahead, regularly, at the coming weeks and months and any schedules for events, campaigns, and deadlines. Fundraisers can schedule offers of support and meetings around these key events, as well as building in flexibility where possible into working patterns. By building in opportunities for fundraisers to ask questions, give feedback, raise issues, and express themselves both in regular times and in particular at times where pressure may be more likely to be felt colleagues can feel reassured and supported. The absence of planning proactively for this can lead to increased anxiety, a feeling of isolation, or an apprehension about speaking out and raising issues of concern.

Part of the planning may well involve reviewing how fundraisers work across the organisation and with colleagues, trustees, volunteers, or with beneficiaries. For example, in a tight deadline for a funding application, a fundraiser could need to have direct access to information from the finance team, case studies and testimonials from service users, and involvement from senior management team. Enabling fundraisers, and ensuring that colleagues across the organisation are primed and able to support fundraising activity at the right times can really help – as well as creating a feeling of all being in it together. 

Stress (as a medical condition) becomes normalised after around 3 weeks (at 3 months it becomes ‘properly’ hardwired), at which point there can be seen a marked impact on wellbeing and performance. If there has been a highly pressured environment or event, then having a ‘check in’ within the 3 week point can help mitigate or reframe events to avoid stress being felt at high levels for a prolonged period. Behaviours adopted during times of high stress are much more likely to continue into the future and so this is a good opportunity to identify issues and put in place interventions or changes where needed.  

Be aware that pressure doesn’t become normalised – either across teams or for individuals – as well as the cumulative impact of continuing working at a high pace or on a number of projects. A continued or extended period of pressure can lead to an individual feeling they are being ground down, or that completing one project or piece of work will just lead to another one starting immediately. While a specific ‘event’ may not be able to be identified that had a particular impact on wellbeing, the continued experience of working under strain can have a progressive detrimental effect.

Having a culture that protects and prioritises wellbeing is not only good for staff and volunteers, strengthening their resilience and boosting performance, but it enables organisations to grow and flourish.

Bearing in mind that staff churn is one of the biggest challenges and costs in fundraising, wellbeing is an important opportunity to show fundraisers how much they are valued, to boost staff engagement and satisfaction, inspiring good people to stay and develop within the organisation.

According to the CIPD, promoting wellbeing helps prevent stress and creates positive working environments where individuals and organisations can thrive. When employers increase their focus on wellbeing, they see an uplift in employee morale and engagement, a healthier and more inclusive culture and lower levels of absence. Therefore, protecting health and wellbeing should be an organisational priority, as important as beneficiary care and financial planning when it comes to ensuring the long-term health and future of the charity.  

But wellbeing initiatives cannot stand in isolation. To be truly effective, employee wellbeing must be integrated throughout the organisation, embedded in its culture, leadership and people management. Creating a culture of openness, where staff feel they are encouraged to talk about their concerns, wellbeing and mental health is crucial. A joined-up approach, and a culture of supporting wellbeing, from the trustees through senior management, and across all staff and volunteers is vital.

• How do you promote an active and healthy lifestyle among your fundraisers?
• What is your approach to handling unexpected work, new fundraising appeals, or difficult conversations with partners and supporters?
• How much time off is available to staff and do you offer flexible working? Do your policies and ways of working change to respond to new ways of fundraising and expectations of supporters?
• Is fundraising widely understood and championed at all levels across the organisation?
• Are targets and key performance indicators agreed in a collaborative way with fundraising teams
• Is sufficient training and resource provided to support fundraisers?
• What more can be done to ensure a healthy work life balance and encourage wellbeing in your fundraisers?
• Have you considered the diversity of your fundraisers and put in place a range of measures to support wellbeing that all can access and benefit from?
• How much do you understand the causes of pressure or stress on fundraisers and what can you do to minimise stress or pressure for fundraisers?
• What can you do to instil and inspire the most positive leadership behaviour? Are you modelling and exhibiting the values and behaviours that you would like to see in your fundraisers?
• How do you respond to big changes and ways of working (such as during COVID-19)?
• Is this an ongoing and continual discussion which is regularly reviewed and improved where possible?

• Open inclusive culture – Having an open, inclusive culture that prioritises mental health and wellbeing; one where challenges can be raised and addressed, where success is celebrated, and where managers recognise the importance of their role in supporting fundraisers’ delivering the job to the best of their ability and of preserving a healthy work-life balance.
• Equipping leaders with management skills – Just as fundraisers must be supported with the skills and knowledge they need to raise funds, management training and guidance must be provided for line managers, enabling them to positive guide and influence fundraisers. This should include training on relevant wellbeing initiatives.
• Wellbeing policies and procedures - Implementation of policies and practices that support wellbeing – likely including a mental health strategy, policies for promoting health and wellbeing, fair pay, processes for tackling the cause of work-related mental health problems, and the inclusion of wellbeing initiatives in other relevant policies (ranging from health and safety, to sick leave and disciplinary procedures). 
• Two-way communication – Involving employees in decision-marking and dialogue around the strategic direction of the organisation deepens the connection with fundraisers, encourages them to feel a greater sense of ownership and to identify with these goals.
• Training and professional development – Professional development will be encouraged, with the provision of relevant training, resources, guidance and /or mentoring for fundraisers, with regular performance reviews.
• Fundraising as an organisational priority – It will be recognised that good fundraising is both an organisational priority and a collective responsibility, involving more than just one fundraiser or team. It will be understood and supported by everyone across the organisation.
• Protecting fundraisers from harm – Responsible employers will take action to prevent bullying / harassment or discrimination of any form, acting swiftly, strongly and decisively in response to accusations, line with organisational policies, (see Keeping Fundraising Safe.
• For more general tips and advice about supporting your people see: Wellbeing in the Workplace, CIPD

• Lead by example - Recognise that how the organisation treats its people (employees, volunteers, trustees, beneficiaries and donors alike) will shape the organisation’s culture and how it is perceived by all audiences – internally and externally. Demonstrating positive working habits will send a clear message to fundraisers that wellbeing matters and that you encourage healthy working habits (working sensible hours, taking lunch breaks and annual leave).
• Understand fundraising and the varied roles of fundraisers – and recognise that fundraising is a collective responsibility and organisational priority
• Celebrate success – Share news of fundraising success across the organisation, motivating the team by celebrating everyone’s role in meeting fundraising goals.
• Be available - Implement an open approach that will encourage your people to share good ideas, give feedback, raise concerns and help improve what the organisation is doing, and let them know their views are valued. Be available for regular one-to-one meetings, diarising sessions to discuss fundraisers’ wellbeing specifically and reviewing what improvements can be made at both ends of the table.
• Give feedback constructively – Think about lessons learned or what can be done differently if things don’t go well, and discuss with colleagues so learning can inform future activity.
• Treat fundraisers as individuals – Everyone has their own strengths, weaknesses and needs, so it’s important to treat fundraisers as individuals, listening to their take on what’s going on and adapting your management style to bring out the best in them.
• Make wellbeing a central and ongoing part of management – Don’t just wait until the last minutes of a one to one to ask how someone is once you’ve gone through all their objectives, and don’t leave it always to individual fundraisers to have to raise an issue around wellbeing. If that is the case, reflect on why or whether it was something that you could have picked up on or could have been more proactive on.
• Create opportunities for learning and development – To ensure fundraisers are confident and well equipped to do their job to the best of their ability, look out for opportunities to build and strengthen their learning and development.
• Working remotely means working differently – Not being together in an office or in physical meetings does impact and limit how you interact with colleagues. Some of the smaller things that would be positive and supportive in a workplace (a social chat while making a cup of tea, being near a colleague who is on a difficult telephone call, picking up on signs of stress) simply can’t happen when people are working remotely, so different approaches and strategies are needed:
  • Give your full attention: it’s easy to get distracted by emails and other pieces of work but when in a meeting with someone, offer them your full attention. Think about holding your hands visibly in-front of the camera to demonstrate this. If in a confidential conversation think about your background and using headphones. Listen with understanding and consider your tone of voice to reflect the type of conversation you might be having
  • Make sure to create spaces that don’t just talk about work, but offer the opportunity to talk about how people are feeling. Use open questions to encourage people to open up and be ready to share your own vulnerabilities or stories.
  • Recognition: it is easy to get whisked away by what we are doing in our day-to-day roles, but make the time to recognise each other and share a ‘thank you.’ This goes a long way and can easily be forgotten about. 
  • Ask what you can do to help make their work easier or support their performance.  Ask if they need additional flexibility and role model your own requests to demonstrate that these requests will be well received.

Further guidance is available from Mind’s How to promote wellbeing and tackle the causes of work-related mental health problems and Taking care of your staff, NCVO knowhow, and Health and Wellbeing at work, CIPD.

There will be challenges and stressful situations in almost every workplace at some stage or another, just as there are in our personal lives. While employers have a responsibility for their fundraisers and all their staff, having a level of self-awareness is also critical. For fundraisers, this means taking time to consider how the role impacts you and likely moments when your wellbeing could be at risk.

Look out for warning signs that your general wellbeing is suffering. By consciously identifying when you’re finding it difficult to cope and addressing such issues or discussing them with colleagues or managers at the front end, you may be able to prevent the situation from escalating. While the below may help individuals think about their situation and circumstance, wellbeing should not solely be left to individual fundraisers to have to identify and speak out – good management should be asking similar questions to fundraisers and raising issues or opening discussions proactively.

• When you think about work, do you worry about meeting your goals and/or about going into work?
• Do you feel the responsibility of keeping the organisation going, or the continued delivery of services, rests on your shoulders?
• Are you set targets or key performance indicators that you feel are unrealistic and without the opportunity to discuss?
• Are you regularly over-working or do your colleagues / manager expect you to do so?
• Do you find that you are struggling to keep up with your deadlines?
• On a day-to-day basis, do you find that you are you particularly anxious or nervous?
• Or are you feeling lethargic or having difficulty sleeping?
• Are you able to wind down out of work hours and at weekends?
• Have you noticed any physical signs of stress such as eczema, panic attacks, headaches, stomach problems a tight chest, throat or jaw?
• When you have concerns, can you identify the root of those worries?
• Do you feel overwhelmed with the pressures of your job?
• Is there someone at work that you feel you can talk with safely and in confidence?

Everybody reacts to stressful situations in different ways. Some thrive on deadlines and challenges, while others will find the same scenario overwhelming. If the workload, office culture or individuals within the work environment regularly make you feel uncomfortable or ‘down’, something needs to change. A healthy work environment will encourage you to talk through your concerns and support you in finding resolutions, offering training or support for handling such challenges.

Of course, it’s important to be aware that external factors, such as family problems, health or financial concerns, childcare issues and worries about loved ones, can all have a major part to play in your ability to cope at work. Again, the workplace culture, support and attitude of peers and managers can be instrumental in protecting your wellbeing and building resilience.

Just as we all have our own reaction to stress, we also have our own coping strategies; conscious or otherwise. They might include going out for a run or bike ride, playing music, going out with friends, spending time with family, watching a favourite TV show, reading a good book or learning something new.

While positive triggers differ from person to person, the NHS identifies 5 key factors for wellbeing, which are: connecting with others; being physically active; learning new skills; giving to others; and focusing on the moment (mindfulness).

By investing time in the things that make you feel good and increasing those positive behaviours, protecting your work-life balance, the chances are that you’ll be better equipped to deal with stressful situations, to support your colleagues and to excel at work.

• Think about the things that make you feel happy and well – your positive triggers. Establish good routines that enable you to fit these things into your daily lives, recognising that they are a priority that can help protect your wellbeing and make you even more productive in the workplace.
• Conversely, consider whether you have any unhealthy or negative habits that may be causing you harm or building stress and try to cut them back. These might include too much screen time or poor sleep patterns through to high levels of junk food or drink.
• Similarly, think about the positive and negative triggers within your role – what makes you feel good about your role and what doesn’t? Being aware of your own reactions can help you work to your strengths and identify the need for support or training to handle challenges.
• Make time to exercise mind and body regularly. Physical exercise will release endorphins that set you on a natural high, while practicing mindfulness or exploring the natural world can help you focus on the moment and deal with the pressures of a busy work and home life.
• Think about what you can do to make others feel good – being kind, thoughtful and thankful is not only beneficial for others, but can relieve your own stress levels.
• Be aware of how you are feeling and how that might influence your day. If you’re having a tough time in your personal life, it follows that you might find it harder to focus or to achieve at work. Consider what you can change about your day to help you relax. Can you call a friend, take a longer break, go for a walk or read a book?
• Open up about the way that you are feeling and tap into the support network in your workplace, whether that is your line manager, HR professional a peer, counsellor, mentor or other. A positive workplace will encourage you to discuss your concerns
• Carry out a Wellness Action Plan – these can be a practical way of helping you to support your own mental health at work. MIND have an example Wellness Action Plan and a range of examples and resources that can help.

If you are feeling overwhelmed or that you can’t cope, it’s important to seek professional help. A call can to the right charity or counsellor really can make all the difference.

The issues that both impact on and support wellbeing are different when you are a fundraising consultant or freelancer compared to working directly in a charity. You may not have a direct line manager and therefore have a different experience of workplace cultures and behaviours. However, you also will likely have a different support system, less formal opportunities to access wellbeing support through a workplace, and a different relationship with colleagues.

Running your own business and working for yourself can be incredibly rewarding, but like everything that’s incredibly rewarding, the lows are as low as the highs are high. As it takes up such a huge chunk of your life, it can also take a huge toll on your mental health and wellbeing. The key to putting your mind at ease, is to do something productive with your time, planning the day ahead or being less self-critical. Taking time for yourself is actual self-care.

It has also been widely documented that owners of start-up businesses are twice as likely to have depression compared with the rest of the public as there can be a significant blurring of the lines between home and work life. (Uni. of San Francisco, Bold Business July 2019). Furthermore, many tips for maintaining mental health (e.g., taking time off) are unrealistic for business owners.

In this advice series, the Chartered Institute Consultants Group committee members have taken a topic each with the aim of offering advice and examples of how they balance work, life, and everything else in between! We trust the topics covered are applicable to the many fundraising consultants and freelancers out there and we hope these wellbeing tips might become daily habits for your success.

Please note, however, that we are not experts in wellness, and would always suggest seeking professional help if required. We also strongly advocate doing what works best for you.

By Catherine Storey, Freelance Project Manager

It’s cold and dark at the moment and it can feel even more difficult to motivate ourselves in the midst of winter. We’re responding to the natural world, plus our freedom is curtailed because of pandemic restrictions. Our stress levels are raised more than usual, which can play havoc with our levels of anxiety and depression. So, if we can’t change the season, or the reality around us, what can we do to make ourselves feel better?

Well, it turns out, quite a lot. We can break our stress cycle. When we feel anxious, cortisol and adrenaline course through our bloodstream which stimulates our flight, fight or freeze response. We have little control over this prehistoric biological system designed to save us from danger. But we do have control over whether we stay there or not. We can return to a calmer state where cortisol and adrenaline dissipate. Here’s how:

• Run or move in any way, this is the fastest way to release tension.
• Laugh. It’s a release!
• Cry. If you have trouble accessing these emotions, music, films, tv can help.
• Sleep. It’s very good for regulating emotions.
• Affection. Maybe difficult for some at the moment, but if you can (within the guidelines), a 20 second hug works wonders to release stress.
• Breathe. Look on the internet for breathing exercises; you can do them anywhere.
• Visualise and imagine a better outcome. Your brain does not know the difference, even if you do.
• Positive social interaction. Even Zoom and phone calls can help.

The good news is you don’t have to do all of these things at the same time, pick the ones that work for you and at the best times for you. Remember you’re in control.

By Liz Haigh, Fundraising Works Ltd

Information comes at us from every direction: reports, research, blogs, insights and any number of podcasts, webinars, conferences, and training sessions. Keeping our knowledge bank current and undertaking regular horizon scanning is crucial, especially for consultants. To be effective we need to think clearly and strategically for our clients. The following tips may help you to avoid information overload and stay focussed and less stressed.

• Draw up your own list of favourite contributors and sources who you will follow, read and trust.
• At the start of each new contract evaluate whether you need to extend your list to include content specific to your new project.
• Allow time for reviewing reports, podcasts, blogs etc rather than dipping in and out. Set a time that fits with your life and plan what subjects you need to be across. 
• Do a topline ‘The week ahead’ plan, including time and topics for learning.
• Build a network of knowledgeable contacts, expert advisors, and trusted peers.  

A healthy workspace

If you don’t have a perfect working environment, here are some tips on a minimum standard to help you stay productive and happy; 

• Start with a tidy desk and some good systems. Allow half an hour at the end of each day to clear up your inbox, tidy your desk and review your to do list.
• Be your own health and safety officer – is your chair comfy? Your screen at the correct height? Your light good enough?
• Take regular breaks – stand up and walk around and drink plenty of water.
• Look at things that inspire you – photos or great views, colour, or calm, whatever works for you.
• 5 minutes of mindful breathing can help reset things after a stressful meeting. 
• Smile, it tricks your body and makes you happier!

By Jon Allen, Jon Allen Associates

You’re the boss… make a plan! No matter how, why, or when you became a freelancer/consultant, YOU decide what you want from your working life. How much income do you need or want? How many days a month do you want to work? What are your long-term goals? Your answers will help you determine (or revise) your working hours and the rate you charge. Set your target working hours and when you do them (you are free to work evenings and weekends – or not) to earn what you need to take care of personal, family, and other commitments. Allocate time to do admin and business development (such as Zoom networking). And even if part-time working is not your priority, try to schedule some ‘you’ time every day. Make realistic projections for income and the number of days you will consequently have to work. 

What proven expertise do you have? What services are you are offering? Why would or should a charity pay YOU, rather than someone else, to do it? This will help you decide how you position and promote your consultancy business. 

You have a business plan. Be business-like to deliver it. 

Wellbeing will be helped enormously if you are able to manage your time, your working relationships, and your work/life balance successfully.  With every active project, it is crucial that you deliver what’s needed to satisfy the client. (Continuing and repeat business are the freelancer’s holy grail.) BUT before accepting the task, you must make sure that the demands made on your time and expertise are reasonable and achievable. Never over-promise. Always be honest with yourself about how long the job is actually going to take and allow for family time or a social life.

Circumstances may push you towards taking on a project that isn’t a perfect fit for you. The more comfortable you feel working on something, the better the outcome; try not to let compromise become the norm. You can get useful advice about stepping outside your comfort zone from your peers via forums and chat groups before and during the job. (I regularly turn to the Facebook group Fundraising Chat. As well as getting the advice and opinions I’m after, it feels great to answer other people’s queries.) Networking may also lead to fruitful collaborations.

Best working practice 

Getting a project completed according to plan is so satisfying. So, be as intensively productive as you can be on every job. Block off enough time to prepare and then concentrate on producing the work. You may want to work in bursts of 25, 30 or even 90 minutes, depending on the level on concentration required and your attention span.  

When you’re in your work bubble, communicate with the outside world as efficiently as possible. It’s a good idea to set times of the day that you look at email. If you need to get in touch with someone urgently, phone or text them – both can cut down on time-consuming to-ing and fro-ing.

And always keep your client in the picture on your progress, especially if it is deviating from what they are expecting.

No matter how you charge, by time – daily or hourly rates – or per project, keep accurate timesheets, particularly if you are starting out. Keeping records of each task you did (research, writing, meetings, copywriting) and for how long will enable you to plan and estimate more efficiently and accurately for future projects and can help resolve any billing and related queries. (Don’t forget to list any direct expenses incurred. Even if you can’t charge them on, you need to take them into account.)

Stay on top of actual and/or virtual paperwork at least weekly, especially anything to do with banking and self-assessment returns. (There are numerous apps which can simplify record keeping.) 

Review your results against your plan... and reality 

Regularly assess your progress against your business plan. Monthly is not too frequently, especially at the moment. How are the finances working? And if your plan was to work four days a week, have you been taking the extra day off?

Be fair to yourself. There is no shame in revising your targets downwards, especially in a pandemic and its aftermath. Revisit your goals and why you set them. Are you still being realistic? 

Be kind to yourself. It’s quite normal to suffer with imposter syndrome, especially if you are new to consultancy. For most of us, self-doubt is more natural than over-confidence ­­– and it shows you care about what you do. Deep down you KNOW you can do this. For support to access your self-confidence, canvass the opinions and guidance of peers you trust. They will appreciate the connection as much as you.  

Always strive to be as true as you can be to who you are and what it is YOU offer. 

By Jonathan Badger, Jonathan Badger Consulting

If there is one thing that has characterised the last 12 months, it’s been uncertainty.  Whether you’ve created a limited company, a partnership or are a sole trader this was a year in which agreements that were on the verge of confirmation sometimes turned to ashes; solid contracts suddenly became shaky and, just as with the Global Financial Crash, every transaction seemed to be paused out of fear of not knowing what was going to happen next.  What started the year as a clearly defined path became in many cases a featureless desert.

But enough of the jokes and levity. Looking after your financial health will play a significant role in reducing anxiety and, thus, play a role in preserving your mental health – so, you do need to take some time out to understand properly how you’re placed professionally and financially. Here are a few things you can do:

1.  It’s always worth reviewing where you are with your current clients just to make sure you’re in control of the demands on you. How close is everything to your original contract / agreement?  Are you managing expectation (ambition versus realism)?  Are you avoiding mission creep?  Are you trying to do too much?  Maybe rethink how many clients you can serve concurrently at the highest level.
2. There are big questions about whether you create a limited company, a partnership or act as a sole trader, which are going to be dependent on your personal circumstances and the type of business you’re seeking to run.  Do you need to rethink what you originally opted to do?
3. Those of you who are self-employed will have recently submitted your tax return and paid your January tax instalment.  Painful as a kidney stone, isn’t it?  Accounting software can ease the pain, but have you spoken to or employed an accountant as well?  Some people baulk at the cost but try to think beyond this. This is someone who’s going to make sure that you’re aware of not just the current range of assistance from HMRC (Self-Employed Income Support Scheme grants, Business Interruption Loan Scheme, Bounce Back Loans), but also the various allowable expenses (i.e., premises costs – particularly relevant as so many of us work from home) which will be helpful in reducing your tax liability.

By Kerry Rock, Prospecting for Gold Ltd

As consultants, we are often in the position of not knowing what the next day, week or month will bring.   Flexibility is key to surviving in this world. However, being flexible and adaptable has its challenges.  We need to develop resilience to cope and thrive.

What steps can we take towards emotional resilience? Reach out and connect with others.  We are part of the fundraising community – we can connect with fellow consultants and other fundraisers in our world.  Share your successes and reach out for support when you need it.  Mutual support, checking in with your fellow consultants to see how they are going, can work both ways.  It’s an opportunity for sharing. 

Identify the areas where you want to make changes and develop a plan for moving forward. Put your consultancy skills to use with a framework that works for you, so you can identify your successes and not be overwhelmed by challenges.  If you have concerns, find a person you can share your thoughts with.  If that person isn’t around for you, can you write it down, another way of processing the concerns and relieving the stresses.

There are quite a few places to share and get support in our online community too. There are the Facebook fundraising groups such as Fundraising Chat and the Consultants and Freelancers’ group. I really value the way people positively respond to questions and requests. It is an open forum to share your concerns, seek advice or share great news too. Maybe investigate sites/apps such as Headspace and Breathe which offer techniques that can help build resilience. However, it’s also really important to know when to switch off from social media, or when to seek out the uplifting, joyful and rewarding messages. Recognise when it’s time to pick up the phone and speak to someone who may understand, offer advice or just a friendly, listening ear.  Talking to our friends and colleagues can help hugely with our emotional resilience.

By Amy Terry, Raised Charity Consultancy

Stay hydrated. Many people do not drink enough water and suffer side effects including lethargy, headaches, and poor digestion. It is harder to feel like a glass of water when it is cold so herbal teas are a nice, warming alternative. 

Do not skip meals. We are all bored of lockdown cooking, especially when it comes on top of work, home schooling and other time commitments, but it is important to eat regular meals. Skipping meals leads to low blood sugar making you feel sluggish and less alert, so it is more important now than ever to make sure you are getting the fuel to keep going. Low blood sugar can also cause an increase in cortisol and can also slow down your metabolism as your body looks to preserve energy, leading to you burning fewer calories.

Don't just stress eat chocolate. Stress depletes us of important nutrients, so we need to replenish these nutrients. This includes healthy fats, B vitamins, vitamin C, selenium, magnesium, and zinc. To make it simple:

• Select a rainbow of vegetables each day – 5 different colours and make sure one is always green. And it’s those colours that feed the microbiome in the gut.
• Healthy fats: mixed nuts and seeds and include oily fish 3 times a week – sardines, salmon, herring, mackerel. If you don’t eat fish include flaxseeds (grind and add to smoothies or sprinkle over soups and salads) and snack on walnuts.
• Include protein with each meal to aid with blood sugar balance e.g., nuts, seeds, eggs, fish, meat, pulses, tofu. Especially important at breakfast so you could eat avocado on wholemeal toast with smoked salmon; scrambled eggs with grilled tomatoes and wilted spinach; or sweet potato toasts with avocado and pumpkin seeds or hummus and tomato. Also, important to avoid sugar in the evenings because it will disrupt your sleep. 
• There are plenty of quick and easy lunch options such as a tin of sardines with a large colourful salad or a bowl of soup with some oatcakes and hummus.
• Eat B vitamins in the form of complex carbohydrates, providing steady energy. Eat wholegrain foods such as brown rice, wholemeal bread, oats.

By Claire Nethersole, CN Fundraising & Adriana Brancaleone, AB Fundraising

As consultants it can be hard to allow ourselves proper time off and not to accept over-work as the norm. Without a regular income saying no to work can be a scary prospect. However, by saying yes to everything we risk spreading ourselves too thinly, at best we may not do a good job and at worst we could burn out. So how can we tackle this?

Firstly, know you your limits, do not take on more work than you can manage. Are you taking on this work because you need the money now or because you are worried you will not get more in the future?

Secondly, manage your client’s expectations, be open and honest with them so that everyone knows where they stand and when work can be finished. Clear communication from the start about your working hours can ensure that your boundaries are respected.

Learning to say no in our personal lives as well can help us to gain more balance. If you are going through a busy time at work, then you may need to step back from other things that take up your time. Nobody wants someone to burn out just to bake a cake for a fair or to volunteer at an event. They will understand.

So, with all this saying no, what can you be saying yes to?

Say yes to a fake commute to separate home and work-life.

Say yes to turning off your email notifications outside of work hours.

Say yes to a walk or exercise break.

Say yes to a proper lunch break away from your computer.

Say yes to doing something that relaxes you.

If you take care of yourself, you will feel more refreshed and have a clearer head to tackle your work when you sit (or stand!) back at your desk.