Your fundraising job: should you love it or leave it?

This is a guest blog by Hannah Kowszun, a freelance consultant on a mission to transform how social impact organisations invest in their people.

Hannah recently undertook research into why fundraisers change their jobs, and what can motivate them to stay. Building on this, she worked with our Director Mike to deliver a session for the Bristol Fundraising Group, helping fundraisers to reflect on they can change about their roles and what they can’t. Hannah kindly offered to write this blog as a follow-up to that session.

​There’s a property show on Channel 4 called ‘Love it or List it’, presented by Kirstie & Phil, whose surnames have been lost to history.

The premise is simple: a couple own a property, one of them wants to stay despite its flaws, the other wants to move because they don’t think their family has a future in it.

Kirstie is on the side of Love It and spends the rest of the programme trying to fix the flaws of the property, usually through an expensive renovation project. (Sidebar: is it me or are the budgets that people have in property programmes eye-wateringly large?)

Phil is on the side of List It and spends the rest of the programme taking the couple to three properties that might be a better fit. At the end the couple is forced to choose between Loving it (staying) or Listing it (leaving). And sometimes the reasons they choose aren’t the ones we expect.

I love Kirstie’s renovation proposals because I love fixing things. My own house is full of hacks to try and eke out every spare centimetre of space; I am currently writing this from a 1mx2m office with air vents and no windows that used to be two cupboards.

The visits to other properties are illuminating: sometimes the grass is greener, sometimes it has a kitchen island. Once the couple stand in a new space, they’re more able to compare their current home.

How you feel about where you live matters.

How you feel about your job matters.

Even if you’re someone who thinks a job is “just” a job, how it makes you feel will still impact your life.

Some days you may love it, some days you may want to chuck it in and find something else. The challenge is how to navigate these feelings with intention.

Is it broke, can you fix it?

If you don’t love your job, leaving isn’t always the answer. There could be a way to ‘fix’ it.
 
This is particularly important in the current environment, when having a job can feel like a privilege to hold onto, no matter what.
 
Before knowing whether you could fix something, you need to understand what you might need to fix, or indeed if there’s anything that needs fixing.
 
It may be that any job - this one or your next one - will feel this way.
 
I studied Organisational Psychology, which is the study of human behaviour in the workplace. Like any academic discipline, it presents theories and frameworks to explain what’s happening. However, what tends to be missing from many of these theories is how individual priorities affect experiences inside work.
 
So rather than try to get a PhD and spend a decade developing a framework with my name on it, I sketched my theory out in a notebook, then refined it in Powerpoint:

The four quadrants represent the push and pull that we experience while in employment:

• Drifting - Primary focus is not work or career / Focus is your next job, not this one
• Comfortable - Primary focus is not work or career / Focus is this job
• Restless - Primary focus is work or career / Focus is your next job, not this one
• Invested - Primary focus is work or career / Focus is this job

While any employer can influence how you feel to some extent, these feelings are your own and they are influenced by many things beyond your immediate employment.

When you’re considering how you feel about your job, or indeed your wider career, it’s crucial to reflect on what these influences are.

Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation

The things that motivate us can sit across a spectrum from the intrinsic to the extrinsic.

Intrinsic = motivation to engage in a behaviour because of the inherent satisfaction of the activity

Extrinsic = motivation driven by external rewards: tangible, such as money, or intangible, such as praise 

​There can be an assumption that people who work in charities are intrinsically motivated. We have chosen a career that aligns with our values but which doesn’t pay as well as other careers do. This intrinsic motivation is gold dust for employers. It’s the kind of thing that big companies pay thousands to consultants to help them make their employees feel, so they enjoy their jobs more! However, it’s rarely as simple as that in practice.
 
When we hit our fundraising targets or do something particularly good, we want to be praised (extrinsic motivation), so if we’re not told well done, it can be demoralising.
 
Meanwhile, we want to know that the money we raised is going to be spent well (intrinsic motivation), so if we’re not convinced that it is meeting a need or being used well, it can make us feel less secure.

Examples of influences

Drifting

• You hope to find a better balance elsewhere
• Doesn’t pay enough
• Employer doesn’t understand or respect your focus outside work
• Situation feels like enough is enough

​
Comfortable

• Meets your need for balance
• Pays enough
• Employer understands & respects your focus
• You have no energy to shift your focus to a different or next job!

Restless

• You’re bored or frustrated with the job itself
• Doesn’t pay enough
• You’re frustrated with the organisation
• You don’t feel sense of autonomy / control / respect

Invested

• Meets your need for progress / competence
• Pays enough
• Satisfies your values / hoped-for impact
• You feel a sense of autonomy / control / respect

Work/career focus

Over three quarters of fundraisers are women (Breeze & Dale, 2020), which means that as a sector we’re far more likely to be balancing work with caring responsibilities: from children, to ageing parents, to a partner that always forgets to walk the dog.
 
But the push/pull of a life outside work isn’t uniquely experienced by women, caregivers or both. For some people their paid job gives them the security to pursue passions outside of work.
 
This is not something that your employer can directly influence! And nor should they.
 
Much like the adage, “it won’t get better if you pick it,” if someone’s primary focus is not their job and they’re doing it well, employers should recognise and accept this.
 
Of course, if your passions outside of work do affect how well you’re performing in your job, that is a problem! There is only so much leeway an employer can give without both of you needing to work out how to ensure your priorities are met outside work, and your responsibilities are met within it.
 
In contrast, there’s a scene in the first series of The West Wing, a TV show about a (very) fictional American President and his staff, where his Chief of Staff tells his wife that his job is “more important than my marriage.”
 
This blows my mind every time I watch it. Much as I love my work, I can’t imagine prioritising work over family. But this is a personal and valid choice.
 
There should not be judgement when it comes to reflecting on the things that influence your feelings. Especially don’t judge yourself.

This job / next job focus

​Do you want or need to earn more money? Remember, don’t judge yourself for your answer!
 
My weekly online shop used to be around £80-90. It’s now regularly over £100 and rising. My mortgage rate used to be 1.1%, it’s now nearly 4%, and I was pleased to even get that.
 
One of the main drivers for looking to another job will be how much you’re paid. And frankly, this can be a driver to consider something in the public or private sector instead. While the role of fundraiser doesn’t exist outside of our sector, our skills are chef’s kiss: other employers would be lucky to have us!
 
Or you may be feeling bored.
 
For all that fundraising is challenging, the day-to-day work can become repetitive. If you’re in an organisation that is risk averse, or doesn’t ‘allow’ people to have new ideas and try new things, it can become frustrating.

Feeling bored or frustrated at work is a common reason for moving on (AI-generated image)

There is a difference between occasionally thinking maybe you could do something else and regularly logging into jobs boards to see what’s out there.
 
If you’re genuinely itching to try something else, it’s worth reflecting on why. Give your employer a chance to respond to your needs, they might surprise you!

Non-negotiables

​When we moved into our first flat together, my now-husband knew that I wanted a bath. It was my non-negotiable.
 
There are things that feel important, but which - when forced to make a choice - aren’t that crucial. And then there are the things we won’t compromise on.
 
These change over time. Right now, raising a child with additional needs, I demand flexibility from my job. Perhaps in future it won’t be quite so necessary.
 
As you reflect, it is worth identifying what features and benefits, for you, are not up for debate.

Fix or Leave, not both

We only have so much energy to expend each day. Some more than others, but even the Duracell bunnies of fundraising (thanks Alex Evans) have an upper limit.
 
Your options are either to try and fix things that you think could potentially be fixed or to try and find another job or career.
 
I once quit a job with nothing to go to. At the time it felt incredible! But I also had no dependents and lower monthly outgoings.
 
The feeling of saying “I quit”, especially if you’re in the Drifting or Restless category can bring a clarity of purpose that is empowering in the moment. Unfortunately this does not last long.
 
Once you have identified the things that are influencing your feelings, you’re in a better position to make a choice about where to put your energy: whether to Love your job or Leave it.
 
If this sounds familiar and you’d like to talk through your influences, your feelings and your options, Hannah offers a one-hour reflective session which you can book here:

https://peoplepurpose.co.uk/your-job-love-it-or-leave-it