Action by funders needed to halt exodus of charity staff amid cost-of-living crisis

Funders are being called on to do more to help charities tackle a recruitment and retention challenges amid the cost-of-living crisis.

Charity leaders are warning of exhaustion and mental wellbeing concerns across the sector with staff “running on empty for too long” as they “move from one crisis to the next”, according to research carried out by IVAR among 32 charity leaders.

“This sense of exhaustion means that many dedicated people are considering their futures,” the report warns.

“Already a concern during the Covid emergency, leaders have seen an escalation of frontline staff leaving their organisations and other colleagues moving away from senior leadership roles.

“There is widespread concern about the breadth of talent leaving the sector, as well as the demands on teams as they cover additional roles.”

Funders are being called on to help charities, with rising costs and keeping staff, through focusing on multi-year unrestricted funding and allowing them to adapt and change project plans and budgets if needed.

“Some leaders feel that funders aren’t placing as much significance on the cost-of-living crisis as Covid, yet its impact is potentially greater,” states the report.

“Immediate concerns, for example, are about how far current funding will stretch and the immediate consequences of rising costs on both project delivery and staff retention.”

One charity leader said: “‘What we can do now is not we said we would do at the start of the grant. Funders don’t understand how much it costs to cover staffing costs – how can we convince them to increase this in line with the Cost of Living?’



The report warns that “it is clear that stress levels continue to rise” within charities.

“Funders are tired, we are tired. We dealt with Covid and now we have the cost-of-living crisis looming. All of us are only just about managing to keep up,” said another charity leader who took part in the research.

Another said: “We’re all being expected to mop up and take on more with less and less. We’re all frazzled.”

Research published by the charity People’s Health Trust in June this year found that more than four fifths of voluntary and community sector leaders are concerned their staff will burnout within months.

“I watched two volunteers die from heart attacks because they worked so hard during the pandemic,” said one respondent to the Trust’s survey.

The Trust’s report called on funders to build mental health support for charity sector workers into grants.

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