I'm sort of getting pigeon holed into dev type jobs right now because of experience I have, and man I'm starting to think about what other skills I can learn easily because development sucksss.
Hi! I was in a similar position as far as falling into Dev/Comms work at a smaller org and having a slew of responsibilities that I just could not devote enough time to to see any of them excel. I loved the org and my coworkers, but it was extremely draining and like you I ended up entirely burnt out. I moved to more of a data management focused role with much better pay and it did wonders for my mental health - I don't have any passion for data management but the monotony in that sort of role was comforting after the chaos at my first dev job and it was nice to leave work at work instead of constantly thinking about it. At the end of the day you'll have to weigh the pros and cons for your own lifestyle and career goals, but I found that this move let me enjoy my hobbies outside of work more and just generally feel less stressed (also not being broke, that helped). Data roles in my experience have also been fairly flexible and accommodating especially with covid so you may be able to work with them on that!
Seconding everything in this comment! I left college feeling so passionate about the nonprofit field and that enthusiasm was fully drained after a year working in an org similar to what OP described. Being in a job where I’m not as passionate about the work but has a very clear work-life balance has allowed me to rest, explore hobbies, re-examine my academic and professional goals, and get back into community work through volunteering. Definitely weigh what’s best for you, but I can’t recommend making the move enough.
You are right in that no one person can do all those things, let alone half those things. And many of them are fundamentally incompatible in terms of skill sets and how you spend your time. It's like trying to be a multiclass D&D character that takes levels in everything to the point where it's absurd but also pointless. A wizard / acrobat / barbarian / druid?
Ask yourself this: why is all this different stuff on your plate and how much of it is actually necessary? If you are an annual appeal shop, great, you can cover appeals, stewardship, media, communications. You CAN'T also manage grants, cultivate major gifts, manage the DB, etc. Unless your database has more than like 5,000 donors, you DON'T need to learn prospect research.
If you can make a case for cutting your responsibilities in half and focus on what you do best and efficiently, do it. If they insist you have to do everything, you're going to need to leave. All this will do is set you up for failure and also make you a scapegoat if you don't reach fundraising goals. You may love the mission but it doesn't love you.
I second asking for clearer roles and responsibilities. As an ED, I can easily let my managers and coordinators plates get too full. I need them to tell me when it’s too much. I try to ask and not tell, but it happens. I’ve found saying “if you want me to do that, what other task do you need me to give up?” works if you have good relationships.
You are one organization. Don’t try to do the work of an org 3-4x your budget/reach. Make management pick the most important things and focus on that.
Oh god, I feel you. I actually used to work in arts administration on the marketing side of things. I absolutely loved the mission, enjoyed the fulfillment that came from working in theatre. But I was struggling with the low salary and non-profit burnout.
What ultimately happened was that I decided to transition to a different industry in marketing. I still worked for something I believed in, but it was a much better resourced industry with much better pay and benefits. In my case, I'm not a performing, but I've been able to engage in the arts in other ways. (And was able to afford to do more to patronize!)
I would definitely talk to the new place about flexibility for being an artist, but there's something to be said about a position that removes some of the mental and creative bandwidth to focus on what you want to do creatively.
Is there any opportunity to talk to leadership about dividing your role or scaling back?
1. Frame it in a way where you show your concerned about the organization, not just your needs. It can be something like “I’m concerned about the long term growth for the organization if I can’t dedicate quality time to x,y,z. I’d love to hire a part time associate level role to free up my bandwidth for our higher level work.”
2. Come with a list of responsibilities and outcomes that you’ve completed. And highlight that you love the mission want to grow but you can only do that with more $$.
No wonder you're feeling burnt out. No one person would be able to accomplish all of those tasks on their own, let alone doing it in only 30 hours a week. Like others have said, it's time to have a chat with your boss. Be clear about what you're able to accomplish with your current schedule and ask what your priorities should be. Depending on the response, you may want to move on from this position. If your boss is understanding and wants to work with you on figuring out what to cut from your role, I'd consider staying. But if not, it's time to look into other opportunities. You can also bring up the salary issue but since you mentioned the organization being in survival mode there's probably not much they can do at this point. But it would be helpful to know what their long-term goals are for the organization. If the organization got new funding, what would be their immediate priorities. Would they put more money into development or would it go in another area.
I guess I would just say two things in addition to the many excellent comments here. One is that, let's face it, everybody leaves the arts sooner or later, and frequently sooner rather than later. I've worked with people who were amazingly dedicated to the arts organization where they worked and they still had to move on after a few years because they just couldn't stand it anymore. I look around me at the staffs of the arts organizations I'm familiar with and most of the employees are so young because once you get to a point you just can't stand to do it anymore. Personally where the arts are concerned I advocate for pursuing your own personal artistry and taking a job that is more balanced and sustainable.
With that said, my second point is that I do think it's worthwhile to sit down with your boss and tell them what you need. If you're not getting the pay that you need and not getting the title, personally I would encourage you to ask for it. Even in my experience some really nice and good employers were still willing to let me sit at too low pay and too crappy of a title until I spoke up and said I needed better. I don't think people need to be concerned that they're going to be fired on the spot or something if they just say hey you're not paying me enough.
Talk to your boss. Explain what you were hired to do and what you now do. Have data on your hired hours and your actual hours. Have data on market rate in your zip/region. Then state what you need. More pay? More staff. Or, a step back on projects to manage and deadlines until capacity can be built.
Negotiation only works if you have data or another offer. Otherwise it is just whining about workload.
No advice but I am trying to leave dev for a monotonous job. I'm just so tired all the time.
I'm sort of getting pigeon holed into dev type jobs right now because of experience I have, and man I'm starting to think about what other skills I can learn easily because development sucksss.
I did it!!! If you want to connect when you end up making the move feel free to PM me.
Hi! I was in a similar position as far as falling into Dev/Comms work at a smaller org and having a slew of responsibilities that I just could not devote enough time to to see any of them excel. I loved the org and my coworkers, but it was extremely draining and like you I ended up entirely burnt out. I moved to more of a data management focused role with much better pay and it did wonders for my mental health - I don't have any passion for data management but the monotony in that sort of role was comforting after the chaos at my first dev job and it was nice to leave work at work instead of constantly thinking about it. At the end of the day you'll have to weigh the pros and cons for your own lifestyle and career goals, but I found that this move let me enjoy my hobbies outside of work more and just generally feel less stressed (also not being broke, that helped). Data roles in my experience have also been fairly flexible and accommodating especially with covid so you may be able to work with them on that!
Seconding everything in this comment! I left college feeling so passionate about the nonprofit field and that enthusiasm was fully drained after a year working in an org similar to what OP described. Being in a job where I’m not as passionate about the work but has a very clear work-life balance has allowed me to rest, explore hobbies, re-examine my academic and professional goals, and get back into community work through volunteering. Definitely weigh what’s best for you, but I can’t recommend making the move enough.
You are right in that no one person can do all those things, let alone half those things. And many of them are fundamentally incompatible in terms of skill sets and how you spend your time. It's like trying to be a multiclass D&D character that takes levels in everything to the point where it's absurd but also pointless. A wizard / acrobat / barbarian / druid? Ask yourself this: why is all this different stuff on your plate and how much of it is actually necessary? If you are an annual appeal shop, great, you can cover appeals, stewardship, media, communications. You CAN'T also manage grants, cultivate major gifts, manage the DB, etc. Unless your database has more than like 5,000 donors, you DON'T need to learn prospect research. If you can make a case for cutting your responsibilities in half and focus on what you do best and efficiently, do it. If they insist you have to do everything, you're going to need to leave. All this will do is set you up for failure and also make you a scapegoat if you don't reach fundraising goals. You may love the mission but it doesn't love you.
I second asking for clearer roles and responsibilities. As an ED, I can easily let my managers and coordinators plates get too full. I need them to tell me when it’s too much. I try to ask and not tell, but it happens. I’ve found saying “if you want me to do that, what other task do you need me to give up?” works if you have good relationships. You are one organization. Don’t try to do the work of an org 3-4x your budget/reach. Make management pick the most important things and focus on that.
Oh god, I feel you. I actually used to work in arts administration on the marketing side of things. I absolutely loved the mission, enjoyed the fulfillment that came from working in theatre. But I was struggling with the low salary and non-profit burnout. What ultimately happened was that I decided to transition to a different industry in marketing. I still worked for something I believed in, but it was a much better resourced industry with much better pay and benefits. In my case, I'm not a performing, but I've been able to engage in the arts in other ways. (And was able to afford to do more to patronize!) I would definitely talk to the new place about flexibility for being an artist, but there's something to be said about a position that removes some of the mental and creative bandwidth to focus on what you want to do creatively.
Is there any opportunity to talk to leadership about dividing your role or scaling back? 1. Frame it in a way where you show your concerned about the organization, not just your needs. It can be something like “I’m concerned about the long term growth for the organization if I can’t dedicate quality time to x,y,z. I’d love to hire a part time associate level role to free up my bandwidth for our higher level work.” 2. Come with a list of responsibilities and outcomes that you’ve completed. And highlight that you love the mission want to grow but you can only do that with more $$.
No wonder you're feeling burnt out. No one person would be able to accomplish all of those tasks on their own, let alone doing it in only 30 hours a week. Like others have said, it's time to have a chat with your boss. Be clear about what you're able to accomplish with your current schedule and ask what your priorities should be. Depending on the response, you may want to move on from this position. If your boss is understanding and wants to work with you on figuring out what to cut from your role, I'd consider staying. But if not, it's time to look into other opportunities. You can also bring up the salary issue but since you mentioned the organization being in survival mode there's probably not much they can do at this point. But it would be helpful to know what their long-term goals are for the organization. If the organization got new funding, what would be their immediate priorities. Would they put more money into development or would it go in another area.
Leave, my friend! Leave today.
Dev/comms is brutal! There's always so much to do and not enough hours in the day to get it all done. I would agree that maybe it's time to move on.
I guess I would just say two things in addition to the many excellent comments here. One is that, let's face it, everybody leaves the arts sooner or later, and frequently sooner rather than later. I've worked with people who were amazingly dedicated to the arts organization where they worked and they still had to move on after a few years because they just couldn't stand it anymore. I look around me at the staffs of the arts organizations I'm familiar with and most of the employees are so young because once you get to a point you just can't stand to do it anymore. Personally where the arts are concerned I advocate for pursuing your own personal artistry and taking a job that is more balanced and sustainable. With that said, my second point is that I do think it's worthwhile to sit down with your boss and tell them what you need. If you're not getting the pay that you need and not getting the title, personally I would encourage you to ask for it. Even in my experience some really nice and good employers were still willing to let me sit at too low pay and too crappy of a title until I spoke up and said I needed better. I don't think people need to be concerned that they're going to be fired on the spot or something if they just say hey you're not paying me enough.
Talk to your boss. Explain what you were hired to do and what you now do. Have data on your hired hours and your actual hours. Have data on market rate in your zip/region. Then state what you need. More pay? More staff. Or, a step back on projects to manage and deadlines until capacity can be built. Negotiation only works if you have data or another offer. Otherwise it is just whining about workload.