Fundraisers can experience the same type of trauma as frontline charity workers, new research has found.

Secondary vicarious trauma, the effect of empathic engagement with people who have experienced trauma, affects fundraisers as well as frontline charity staff, a report examining fundraiser stress and burnout has found.

The Caring Too Much report, published today by the fundraising think tank Rogare, showcases research by the Irish fundraiser Michelle Reynolds, which she undertook as part of her Master’s degree in integrative counselling and psychotherapy with Turning Point and University College Cork.

The study, which was based on existing research and interviews with professional fundraisers, said that while empathy is a core contributor to fundraisers’ successes, it is also a source of “significant emotional strain”.

The report says that although much research regarding secondary trauma centres on professionals who have direct contact with trauma experiences, “there is evidence to suggest that indirect exposure can have equally detrimental effects”.

The report says: “Though not always in direct contact with trauma, fundraisers may be vulnerable to trauma-related distress, particularly when their high empathic attunement is considered.”

The research found “persistent evidence of participants minimising their own feelings in relation to others, both explicitly [...] and subconsciously”.

Participants minimised their feelings not just in relation to beneficiaries and donors, but also in relation to the experiences of their colleagues, particularly those providing direct care.

This was evident in a case study provided by the fundraiser Colin Skehan, who experienced a breakdown and developed depression and anxiety due to stress and secondary trauma.

In his account, Skehan says that when he first met his therapist, he felt that he was “only a fundraiser”, saying: “They must deal with people who really deserve help.”

The report also points to a “pervasive weight of expectation” experienced by fundraisers, without the resources or support to ensure their wellbeing and psychological safety.

One participant said: “There’s no room for no, because people depend on this service. We don’t have enough resources for more people, so we’ll get it across the line.”

The report adds that all participants asserted or alluded to the expectation and pressure being self-imposed.

While many participants spoke of supportive managers, they also said they regularly work beyond their hours, “feeling significantly under-resourced and unsupported”, the report says.

It says: “Participants’ testimony plainly demonstrated a lack of practical resourcing and lack of tangible and emotional support as a significant issue and cause of emotional stress.”

While some fundraisers interviewed said they had raised their concerns, they “experienced little support or acknowledgment in return”, the report says.

It says the study “demonstrates a lived sense of idealisation on fundraisers: an unconscious, unintentional, yet legitimately-felt association exists, that the fundraiser can do ‘all the things’.”

Reynolds said: “Charities need to do more to support their fundraisers. While fundraisers often put themselves forward to do more, it is impossible to ignore the concomitant cultural expectation and pressure from organisations and leadership that this is what fundraisers ought to do. In fact, perhaps this has been overlooked for too long.”

She added: “Fundraisers need to be empowered and enabled to hold boundaries around workload, to find their individual comfort level around exposure to others’ traumatic experiences, and resist the self-imposed yet seemingly reinforced-by-others belief that they must be ‘always on’ and put everyone else’s needs ahead of their own.”

Damian Chapman, chair of Rogare, said: “The changes we need to put in place to deal with this crisis are not radical; they are the basic protections any profession should provide to those working on the frontlines of social good. 

“Fundraisers are not an infinite resource. We cannot afford to keep losing them to burnout.”