Managers wellbeing during funding challenges
Posted: 8th December 2025
Being a manager/leader in a small charity/third sector organisation can often be a lonely and challenging place. I often think of the analogy of the sea of life and often it can feel our organisation is a boat being thrown around by a storm, and that the crew are looking for a lifeline, an anchor to hold onto that offers clear instructions and the hope of making it through to calmer waters and our Board and Committee are also looking at us and asking what are we doing? Or offering suggestions of what we should do at a time when our energy may already be in our boots and we wonder, how will we get through this, and who can I turn to?
I am aware that many would recently have received the outcome of funding applications and for many managers who did not get the outcome they hoped may feel here is another storm to navigate. We may work with different communities, provide different services and have different team set ups, but what we share in common is a desire to make a difference, and when an application is unsuccessful we may feel guilty that somehow what we submitted was not good enough, that we are not good enough and our confidence and morale can hit rock bottom, at a time when others are looking to us to be a calm within the storm. Please know, you have nothing to feel guilty about, Sometimes, no matter how hard we work, try to do the right thing, holidays missed, weekends missed, sacrifices made, no matter, how good our application is, there are tough decisions being made by funders who cannot fund everyone and it does not work out for us this time and that is not our fault.
Please know you are not alone. There are so many of us sacrifice holidays, times with friends and families. burn the midnight oil to try and keep it together and yes, many people’s experiences may be different from this, but for anyone who does feel alone, adrift, needing to project calm while inside are feeling…………………. reach out to peers. This is not that you are not good enough, your application is not good enough, its simply that there are many boats in the storm and sometimes when one harbour is no longer available to us, we need to find another, and another and another as we have been in financially challenging times as a sector now for a wee while!
I have listened to many charity managers, and this is what they have shared are the biggest challenges to their wellbeing:
- learning to say No.
- Feeling like I’m doing it all alone.
- Time
- Giving myself permission to step back and take a break sometimes.
- Huge expectations from Board
- Not switching off at night
- Burning out and feeling alone
- For me, it is forgiving myself for not being able to do everything.
- Never taking a break
- Trying to be a fixer instead of being an ‘’along sider’’
- Lack of resources that makes me have to do it all myself.
The strength of our sector is the values which drive us to keep going against the odds. A weakness is that after a while, it becomes taken for granted this will always be the case, regardless of the lack of resources or support and with every increasing demand. This is not realistic. Somewhere a balance needs found around doing what we can do, and doing that to the best of our ability, but realising, we are NOT responsible for it all.
We know the challenges people using our services face. We can somehow feel its our responsibility to fix whatever these challenges are, but we cannot fix everything, we cannot do it all, we can only look at the 15% in our control and do the best we can with that.
Loss of funding can create so much uncertainty and at a time of year when people may be going on holiday and needing that time to rest and recharge. The wee infographic image with this piece offers some ideas to help navigate these challenging waters, however, they do not replace peer support and more formal advice. One of the biggest things that can help at this time is knowing you are not alone. Reach out to peers and networks. Acknowledge the disappointment and other emotions you and the team may feel, then together find ways to navigate through these challenges seeking opportunities and finding ways to accept changes may need to happen. It can be hard when we experience disappointment to believe there are any other opportunities, but there are, sometimes takes time to find them, sometimes yet again we need to reinvent ourselves, but, as long as we have each other and a vision of a kinder world, we will find a way.
A wee poem may inspire
Sea-Fever
I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by;
And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey dawn breaking.
I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.
I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull’s way and the whale’s way where the wind’s like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick’s over.
We can still create our own tall ships which we can steer by the star of hope. Please know you matter, your teams matter, what you do matters, and that you are not alone. When the road ahead seems unclear, focus on the next step, and the next after that, you are only human, we all are.
With love from a fellow third sector manager
Hilda x
Expires: 2025-12-31
More Information: https://www.copescotland.com/resources/managers-wellbeing-matters-too
Contact: hildac@copescotland.com