Last time I checked in with Charity eNews readers, I was lying awake in bed at 5 a.m., rewriting my board report. That article sparked a lot of nodding heads, quiet commiseration, emails and a few “Me too, but I wish to remain anonymous.”

Since then, BNP Inspire has run a national survey asking nonprofit leaders across Canada a simple question: “What’s keeping you up at night?”
And guess what? Collective insomnia is real, and the voices in your head do sound a lot like Game of Thrones characters.

What we learned

Fundraising causes anxiety. 60% of nonprofit leaders say that meeting fundraising targets is their top worry. That means that while we’re all smiling politely at webinar panels about “trust-based giving” and “co-creating transformational philanthropy,” most of us are backstage trying to keep the donation page from crashing during the last-minute Giving Tuesday push.

The comments said it best:

“Unrealistic expectations of how much can be raised.”
“Donors are fatigued. So are we.”

You could practically hear the tired sighs behind the exclamation marks. If there was a soundtrack to this section, it would be Danny Glover muttering, “I’m too old for this ****.”

Coming in close behind fundraising?

Financial sustainability. Just under half of the respondents flagged it. Not surprising when you realize that many of us are still trying to pay fair wages, cover rent, run programs, and keep the website from looking like it’s still 2013.

One person just wrote “Payroll!!!” as their entire comment. No context, no explanation. Just a primal scream. Respect. The reality is “sustainability” is a nice way of saying “please don’t let this be the year we run out of money.”

44% said staff retention and burnout are keeping them up. Another quarter linked burnout directly to financial pressure.

And this isn’t just “our intern is a bit tired on Mondays.” This is core exhaustion. This is— “I’ve rewritten this job posting three times because I can’t afford to pay more than $38K and the last two hires ghosted us.” This is— “we are constantly training new staff who then leave for higher pay.” Almost as repetitive as hearing “Do you want to build a snowman?”

One-third of leaders pointed to board engagement and alignment as a major source of stress. The comments were not subtle:

• “Board expectations vs. actual commitment.”
• “Hospital CEO relationship with Foundation CEO and Board.”
• “Recruitment of board members who do anything beyond eating sandwiches at meetings.”

(Okay, I may have paraphrased that last one, but I’m guessing someone else said it somewhere.)

Boards want strategy. Staff want sleep and a cost-of-living allowance. And the gap in between is often filled with passive-aggressive silence and someone asking, “Can we just email them instead?”

Other worries surfaced too—regulatory shifts, donor acquisition, strategic planning, program impact but these are more like bad elevator music in the store (C’mon people – Madonna is not oldies.) compared to the piercing k-pop sounds of funding and people issues.

Here are a few gems from the write-in comments:

• “Feasibility of big projects.” (Translation: Who approved this million-dollar capital campaign with a $25,000 budget?)
• “These challenges amidst the post-pandemic, socioeconomic, geopolitical stress.” (Everything. Everywhere. All at once.)
• “Organizational change.” (Said in the same tone you’d use to say “colonoscopy”)

Even things we’re supposed to care about—like DEI, AI, or macroeconomic trends—barely registered in the responses. Not because they’re unimportant, but because when the ship is leaking, you aren’t rearranging the deck chairs, you are just looking for a door big enough for everyone to float on.

Here’s the kicker: these issues don’t show up alone.

Fundraising worries come with burnout. Burnout walks hand-in-hand with financial strain. Governance issues show up right beside cash-flow panic. It’s like a horror movie ensemble cast — every character is a different flavour of stress. Our collective Netflix “Next Up for You” must send the algorithm into fits.

Leaders aren’t just facing one battle. They’re trying to juggle a chainsaw while doing downward dog—and still expected to smile at funders, rally staff and write an annual report full of optimism.

So… what now?

Here’s my take—as someone who’s both part of this mess and also weirdly comforted by the results of this survey:

• If you're worried about money, people, and your board — you're not alone. You’re in the vast, sleepless majority.
• If you’ve ever whispered “board meeting” like Smeagol, you’re in good company.
• If you’ve had to reassure your team that “it’s fine, we’ll figure it out” while secretly googling how to apply for emergency bridge funding, you are very, very normal.

But here’s the good news: there are solutions.

Not fast ones. Not easy ones. But real ones. And they start with acknowledging that we’re human, that nonprofit leadership is hard, and that we’re not the only ones doing deep breathing in the parking lot before morning meetings.

We don’t need more jargon or a new framework. We need permission to say: “This is a lot but we’re doing our best.” And sometimes, that’s enough.

Let’s start with the obvious: people. If burnout is taking your staff out faster than an evil smiling clown, then the antidote is not yoga and “Wellness Wednesday” emails. It’s paying people properly, hiring enough staff, and giving them the tools (and time) to do their jobs. Burnout prevention isn’t a “perk,” it’s infrastructure and paying for it has good ROI!

Also, make time for board training. Real training. Not “15 minutes at the end of a meeting if we have time.” This includes onboarding that explains how fundraising actually works, so we can stop debating whether raffles or galas will save us. A little board education goes a long way in reducing staff stress, avoiding decision gridlock, and preventing the plot loopholes that make Bruce Willis’ Armageddon feel logical—boards demanding miracles with no budget and then rejecting the exact tactics that might deliver them.

So here’s to you, nonprofit warrior. May your fundraising page load properly, your payroll clear and your board meetings be blessedly short.

And if you’re still up at 3 a.m.? Text me. I’m probably awake too.

Lee Pigeau brings over 30 years of leadership experience in Canada’s not-for-profit sector, with a strong track record in fundraising, governance, and strategic growth. As an adjunct instructor at the college level, he authored Ontario’s college-level e-learning fundraising curriculum and he has consulted for both grassroots and global charities on governance, donor stewardship, capital campaigns, and more. He is active in his community as a mentor, volunteer and competitive martial artist. LPigeau@bnpinspire.com