Do any of these situations sound like your current fund development position?

If you're experiencing any or all of these conditions and feelings, then you're a prime candidate for burn out.

Burn out is formally defined as a state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion caused by long-term involvement in situations that are emotionally demanding.

"Burn out is a motivational problem," according to Beverly A. Potter, Ph.D. author of the book, Overcoming Burn Out: How To Renew Enthusiasm for Work. (Ronin Publishing, Inc., 1998, Berkeley, CA) "It's particularly noticeable when someone used to be very enthusiastic, highly motivated, really striving and now they seem to be dragging and have a "why bother" attitude."

Susan B. Franklin, MSW, Executive Director of the Camp Ronald McDonald for Good Times in Los Angeles, provides her own definition. "Burn out is a part of any job you do intensely. Jobs that you put yourself into, put a great deal of your energy and focus into, as well as your ego. When you demand alot of yourself, burn out is something that you have to be weary of. Burn out is when little by little a job becomes a burden and you find yourself resisting it. You find you have to give yourself a little pep talk before you make that phone call or write that proposal. It can often be something that you used to enjoy but you've done it for so long, and so many times, that you get to the point where you can't face it anymore."

People experience burn out as a gradual erosion of their spirit and zest as a result of the daily struggles and chronic stresses that are typical of everyday life and work -- too many pressures, conflicts, demands, and too few emotional rewards, acknowledgments, and successes. Stress, in and of itself, does not cause burn out. People are often able to flourish in stressful, demanding careers if they feel valuable and appreciated and that their work has significance. They burn out when their work has no meaning and stress continuously outweighs support and rewards.

"In development, burn out exists because there is a gap, and often a large gap, between expectations and reality in regard to development professionals capacity to get things done," stated Nelson Cover, Jr., President of The Sheridan Group in Arlington, VA. "This occurs because of inadequate, insufficient or misguided strategic planning. If you haven't gotten your goals and expectations reality based, and properly reality checked, you set goals and expectations that are completely unrealistic and require a workload that is greatly in excess of what can actually be accomplished by the development professional. The board may have a certain set of expectations and they are visited upon the director of development who then is supposed to find ways to meet the goals and expectations that have been set without really having any input into the process."

Working with volunteers is, and always will be, a challenge. For some, this challenge not only becomes daunting, it actually becomes the basis for burn out. Susan B. Franklin comments on this issue. "Working with volunteers causes stress. It's not a criticism of the staff or volunteers, but there is something that is inherent in that partnership that has its own special stresses because the volunteers are being paid with a thank you, and they know the staff is being paid with dollars, so therefore they assume you don't have to say thank you to the staff. Many times members of the development staff, who have provided a huge amount of support or have done the entire job, see the board or volunteers taking credit. The staff doesn't mind sharing credit, but they wish the credit would be shared back. And that can lead to burn out and it can certainly lead to someone being so frustrated with their job that they decide to look elsewhere to find a position that provides more appreciation."

Burn out can also be caused by frustration exacerbated by personal growth. John Scola, CFRE, President of JAS & Associates in Phoenix, believes that as a person grows professionally the charitable organization may lack the resources to keep the individual involved and motivated. "It may be that the institution they're with is not equipped to handle their growth. There are steep learning curves in this business and an individual in two or three years can learn an awful lot and perhaps feel they have nowhere to go. They may confuse that situation with burn out but probably what they're feeling is unappreciated or not challenged and that creates a sense of emotional stress."

The New York-based American Institute of Stress estimates that 75 to 90 percent of visits to doctors are for stress-related conditions. There is ample evidence to suggest that stress can cause impotence, irregular menstrual cycles, miscarriages, colitis, ulcers, diarrhea, cardiovascular disease, rashes, digestion problems, and even cancer.

A major source of stress is overdriving yourself. If you're working 16 hours a day you have reduced your available time for rest. Sooner or later the energy drain on your system will cause the body to fall behind in its repair work. There will not be enough time or energy for the body to fix broken cells or replace used up brain neurotransmitters. Changes will occur in your body's internal environment. If you continue, permanent damage may be done. The body's fight to stay healthy in the face of the increased energy that you are expending, is major stress.

"An individual needs to understand the difference between stress and burn out," explained Dr. Potter. "Burn out is when you feel that no matter what you do, you can't succeed. You feel helpless and powerless. Stress is an unrelenting demand that is wearing out your physical and emotional resources. If a person is starting to feel demotivated then they need to identify the problems. It's just like when your car isn't running properly. You don't just whip open the hood and start ripping stuff out. You go through a trouble-shooting process. You look at the symptoms, you analyze the problems and try to pinpoint the cause. So the best way to help yourself is to record information. Each time you get a feeling of demotivation you should stop and record the experience. What are you feeling? Why is it happening? What caused it? Write it down in a journal like a scientist. After you do this for several days then read through the data looking for patterns. It's those patterns that will help you pinpoint your problem so you can modify your activities to help you renew your motivation."

Burn out is not like the common cold. Washing your hands and avoiding sick colleagues will not eliminate the possibility of falling victim to this debilitating malady. There is also no quick cure for emotional and physical burn out. It has been suggested that to stay physically and mentally dynamic, a development professional must take a more active role in the planning process of the organization. Instead of sitting back and wondering why you have no power or voice, experts agree that if you don't get involved in the future planning for your organization, you will probably not be a part of that future.

Nelson Cover agrees that development professionals must be pro-active. "Planning needs to be participatory -- a shared process with the board development committee, executive committee, director of development, and the administration. They need to work in a partnership to define and set realistic goals."

"Projects need to be prioritized at different levels, if this is not done then everything in the development office becomes overburdened, and everything becomes a priority. This creates a very stressful environment and you're never able to satisfy all the expectations. You work to excess, but still have the feeling of never accomplishing all that you need to accomplish. I see development people literally work 12 to 15 hour days, every day and on weekends and not take vacations. And you can't do that for very long as an adult. It won't be long before you run into major problems with your personal life or major problems with your physical and mental well-being."

Cover went on to suggest a sabbatical from the daily grind is imperative to good mental health. "Take some time off and collect yourself. Take your vacation then come back and get into a planning mode. Do a planning retreat with your own staff and do it before the board's planning retreat. Be pro-active in putting together an operating plan with a budget which relates work requirements to budget, needs and goal expectations. Then present that plan to your chief administrator, or whomever your boss is, and ask that the plan be factored into the board's retreat, and all strategic planning for the year."

Establishing a network of colleagues will help a development professional combat the negative feelings associated with burn out, according to John Scola. "Another level of maturity that a fund raiser reaches is knowing that you won't learn everything about development from the organization you work for. There is a need to network and to find out what other people are doing. That was one of my personal revelations. I came into this business within a very good agency. They did a good job training me, but I reached a point where, I wouldn't say they taught me everything they could, but there was a component missing, and that's when I started to mature as a fund development professional. I began to get involved in associations like NSFRE. This may be in every industry, but I believe its most important for fund raisers to find out what other people are doing in other agencies. These types of associations will help determine for a fund raiser if the stresses they're under are stresses that are necessary and common and open to creative solutions."

In desperation, a burned out individual may quit one job and seek another. But beginning a new job in a state of great expectation is a set-up for another disaster. The second job may promote burn out even more rapidly in the face of fewer frustrations. Typically, a person who is burned out and quits one place of work will often find the same problems in a new job. Not surprisingly, after burning out in a series of jobs they often develop a chronic sense of hopelessness and failure.

It's estimated that 40 percent of worker turnover is due to job stress. The Xerox Corporation estimates that it costs approximately $1-1.5 million to replace a top executive, and average employee turnover costs between $2,000 to $13,000 per individual. On a national basis, fund raisers only stay with their charitable organization 18 months. The costs of replacing development professionals year after year is staggering and constitutes an incredible financial hardship on the not-for-profit organization as well as disrupting the continuity of new and established programs.

Of course, turnover is a natural part of any organization. Sometimes it becomes a necessity. Nelson Cover explains, "If you're in a situation where the board doesn't want to do strategic planning, this is one of the reasons people burn out and change jobs. The development professional often feels no one is listening to them and they're saddled with all these unrealistic expectations. If you can't make progress with communicating, and you can't get a partnership formed in your organization, then I think you seriously need to consider how long you really want to stay with that organization."

However, before you seek out a new fund raising position, Susan Franklin offers a suggestion. "Often there are other things you can do instead of changing jobs, especially if you still love the job and the organization and its mission. It's always best if you can find a way to deal with the stress and burn out within the job first, before you leave. You really need to analyze your job to discover where the stress and burn out is coming from."

Dr. Potter, writing in her book Beating Job Burnout, (Ronin Publications, Inc., Berkeley, CA) explains that burn out can be a vicious cycle. "The burn out syndrome can take on a life of its own. Feelings of futility, disappointment, and guilt provoke interpersonal hassles and depression. Emotionally drained, health problems can set in and performance ultimately drops. As performance deteriorates, there is an even greater sense of futility and guilt. A vicious cycle is entrenched. Eventually painful emotions give way to lethargy. The person cannot muster enough energy to participate in life; talents remain dormant, knowledge untapped, and potential squandered. The vital driving force has become a whimper. As a malaise of the spirit, burn out attacks and depletes motivation. The cycle rarely stops by itself."

Pam Betz, President of Betz & Associates of Phoenix, provides suggestions on how to cope with burn out and offers a final word of hope. "Number one, be good to yourself, because if you can't first look at yourself to create a balance in your life, then you're not going to be good to anybody else. And number two, you must keep a sense of reality. I know what I do is not brain surgery. When I get really, really tense and stressed out, I remember that I don't have the life of a person in my hands. Even though I passionately believe in the cause we're raising money for, I always remember that thank heavens, I'm not a brain surgeon."

"The good news is that you can come out of burn out. There is light at the end of the tunnel. It's not a forever state. If you make positive changes in your life, creating some balance, you will see the creativity and the enthusiasm come back."

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