Ascend People schedules free webinar on preventing nonprofit staff burnout

Ascend People will host a free Oct. 1 webinar for nonprofit leaders on practical, budget-conscious ways to reduce staff burnout. The session comes as sector data show record levels of burnout, turnover and concern among nonprofit workers and CEOs.

Why it matters: - Nonprofit burnout is rising while budgets stay tight. - The webinar is designed to give leaders tools they can use without adding new wellness perks or major new spending. - The focus is on structural fixes that can affect retention, morale and day-to-day operations.

What happened: - Ascend People will host a free webinar titled "Burnout Is Real. So Is Your Budget: Practical Strategies for Sustainable Nonprofit Staffing" on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026, at 1:00 p.m. ET via Zoom. - The firm serves nonprofits, foundations and mission-driven organizations. - Registration is free and open to all at page.ascendpeople.co/burnoutisreal. - Registrants will receive the session recording and a burnout prevention checklist.

The details: - The webinar centers on structural drivers of burnout, including pay practices, policies, management systems and role clarity. - Attendees will get strategies tied to five areas of organizational health: financial wellbeing, workplace culture and safety, growth and development, agency and voice, and work structure and autonomy. - The session is aimed at nonprofit executive directors, operations leaders and HR managers. - Foundation leaders are also part of the target audience because they can influence the health of grantee organizations. - The webinar replaces a wellness-perk model with operational changes leaders can make using existing staff and budget. - Current sector data show 46% of nonprofit CEOs say burnout is "very much" a concern in 2026, up from 29% in 2025, according to the Center for Effective Philanthropy's State of Nonprofits 2026 report. - The Social Impact Staff Retention Project found nearly seven in ten nonprofit employees planned to look for a new job, and nonprofit turnover is close to double the rate of other U.S. industries. - Research from the Center for Effective Philanthropy shows most foundation leaders are worried about burnout at grantee organizations, but only about half take steps to support grantee staff wellbeing.

Between the lines: - The pitch reflects a broader shift away from burnout advice that puts the burden on individual workers. - Ascend People is framing burnout as an organizational design problem, not a personal resilience problem. - That framing matters because nonprofits often need solutions that improve retention without requiring new funding. - Whitney Herrington, CEO of Ascend People, said nonprofit leaders have been told to fix burnout with wellness perks that budgets cannot support and teams do not find helpful. - Herrington said the webinar will focus on people systems organizations can strengthen even on a tight budget.

What's next: - The webinar will be held live on Zoom on Oct. 1. - Attendees will leave with a checklist and recording they can use after the session. - The event may help nonprofit and foundation leaders compare staffing practices against the sector’s current burnout and turnover pressures.

The bottom line: - Ascend People is positioning structural HR changes as a practical alternative to burnout quick fixes for nonprofits that need retention help now.