If We Want Sustainable Charities, We Need to Get Serious About How Work Feels

As a sector we are brilliant at talking about purpose. But purpose alone simply cannot keep a workforce going through uncertainty, restructures and rising demand. What keeps people going is trust, inclusion and leaders who understand the emotional cost of constant change, and act on it.

The conversations at this year’s Charity Times Conference made that clearer than ever. While the agenda covered strategy, digital, governance and innovation, the most honest moments were about our people. We spoke openly about the emotional reality of working in organisations that are constantly adapting. Leaders spoke about the grief that can come with change, the uncertainty that sits beneath every funding cycle, and the trust gaps that open when communication isn’t clear. These are the daytoday realities for the people keeping our organisations going.

I was invited to speak on the final panel, “How inclusive, peoplefirst cultures build sustainable charities.” What struck me most was how ready the room was to talk about the things we often avoid: the emotional labour of leadership, the pressure on middle managers and the uncomfortable space between what we put in our strategies and what we actually fund or make time for.

One of the points I brought from the What’s the Charitea? community and podcast, as well as my work with Leeds Mind, was the importance of lived experience, especially around mental health. Our sector is full of people whose personal stories shape their purpose and that’s a huge asset but only when organisations put the right support around those people. No one should be left to shoulder their lived experience alone, or feel like it’s quietly expected of them because of the role they’re in. Managing lived experience well takes boundaries, support and thoughtful leadership.

And that leadership often sits with middle managers, who hold the bulk of this work, despite being one of the least supported groups in most organisations. They’re the ones holding wellbeing conversations, running onetoones, absorbing the organisational pressures and translating change for their teams. Quite often this group of employees also have their own lived experience too. And the majority are doing this without training, without space and without the support they need. If we want resilient organisations, we need to build a culture that offers managers the tools, time and confidence to lead with care, clarity and consistency.

Organisational culture isn’t an addon or something we dust off when times are easier. It’s the thing that shapes how people feel at work, how they treat each other and whether they can stay well while doing demanding jobs. It’s the foundation of inclusion, trust and longterm sustainability. When culture is strong, people stay. They collaborate. They innovate. They weather uncertainty together. When we neglect our organisational culture, everything else becomes harder; recruitment, retention, decisionmaking, even delivering impact.

If we want sustainable charities, we need to get serious about how work feels. This is no longer a ‘soft’ conversation, it’s a strategic one. Because the emotional reality of our workforce is central to whether we can deliver our missions at all. 

By Louise Dawtry - June 2026