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The Burnout Crisis: Protecting Your Volunteer Coordinators (and Yourself)

· 6 min read
Giang (Jen) Tran
Operations Manager

I need to talk about something that doesn't get discussed enough in our field: burnout. Not volunteer burnout—though that's real too—but the burnout epidemic affecting the very people who manage volunteer programs. If you're reading this while eating lunch at your desk, answering emails at 9 PM, or wondering when you last took a real vacation, this one's for you.

The Numbers Are Alarming​

Let me share some statistics that should concern everyone in nonprofit leadership:

The National Council of Nonprofits has called this a sector-wide "crisis"—and that's not hyperbole. When volunteer coordinators burn out, the ripple effects devastate programs that communities depend on.

Why Volunteer Coordinators Are Especially Vulnerable​

I've worked with hundreds of volunteer coordinators over the years, and I've noticed patterns in what drives burnout in this specific role:

The "Do More With Less" Trap

In many nonprofits, employees are expected to juggle multiple roles—planning events, managing volunteers, writing grant proposals, running programs, and answering phones, all at once. Volunteer coordination is often just one of several hats someone wears, and it's frequently the first thing that gets squeezed when time runs short.

The Emotional Labor

Volunteer coordinators are in a constant relationship-building role. They're celebrating with volunteers who succeed, supporting those who struggle, navigating conflicts, and maintaining enthusiasm even when they're exhausted. This emotional labor is real work, but it's rarely acknowledged or compensated.

The Manual Burden

Too many volunteer programs still run on spreadsheets, paper sign-up sheets, and manual hour tracking. A coordinator who spends three hours each week entering data into spreadsheets is a coordinator with three fewer hours for meaningful work—and three more hours of tedium contributing to burnout.

The Compensation Gap

Let's name the elephant in the room: 72.2% of nonprofits cite salary competition as their biggest staffing challenge. When for-profit companies raise wages, nonprofits often can't keep pace. Volunteer coordinators—already in modestly compensated roles—face the impossible math of needing to pay bills while doing work they love.

When Coordinators Burn Out, Everyone Loses​

The impact of coordinator burnout extends far beyond one person's wellbeing:

Volunteers Notice

Volunteers can tell when their coordinator is stretched thin. Response times slow. Communication becomes sporadic. The personal touches that made volunteers feel valued disappear. Volunteer retention drops, which creates more work, which accelerates the burnout cycle.

Institutional Knowledge Walks Out the Door

When a burned-out coordinator leaves (and nearly a quarter of nonprofits lost more staff than typical in 2024), they take years of relationship history with them. That volunteer who always brings homemade cookies? The one who can only work Tuesdays? The donor who started as a volunteer? That knowledge rarely transfers to the next person.

Community Impact Suffers

When organizations can't maintain stable volunteer programs, the communities they serve suffer most. Staffing shortages in direct-care services mean that families and individuals cannot access life-saving support. This isn't abstract—it's real people going without real help.

Technology as Burnout Prevention​

I'm not going to pretend that better software solves systemic underfunding or eliminates emotional labor. But the right tools can dramatically reduce the administrative burden that contributes to burnout.

Automate the Tedious

Every hour you spend manually tracking volunteer hours, sending reminder emails one-by-one, or compiling reports from scattered data is an hour that could go toward meaningful work. Platforms like myTRS automate these tasks:

  • Volunteers log their own hours through self-service portals
  • Automated reminders go out before shifts without coordinator intervention
  • Reports generate automatically, ready for board meetings or grant applications
  • Check-in happens on-site without paper or data entry

Reduce Decision Fatigue

When volunteers can self-select shifts through an online portal, you're not fielding dozens of "what's available?" phone calls. When the system flags scheduling conflicts automatically, you're not manually cross-referencing spreadsheets. Every decision you don't have to make is mental energy preserved for decisions that matter.

Enable Delegation

Good volunteer management software makes it safe to delegate. When shift leaders can manage their own teams through the platform, when department heads can run their own registration, coordinators can step back from micromanaging without losing visibility.

Beyond Technology: Structural Solutions​

Technology helps, but lasting change requires organizational commitment:

Staff Appropriately

One volunteer coordinator for 500 volunteers isn't ambitious—it's unsustainable. If your organization relies heavily on volunteers, volunteer coordination needs adequate staffing. This might mean a dedicated coordinator, or it might mean distributed responsibilities, but it can't mean dumping everything on one overwhelmed person.

Set Boundaries

"Nights and weekends as needed" shouldn't mean "nights and weekends always." Volunteer programs that function only when the coordinator works 60-hour weeks are broken programs. Build redundancy. Cross-train staff. Create systems that don't collapse when someone takes a vacation.

Measure the Right Things

If coordinators are evaluated solely on volunteer numbers and hours—metrics that encourage overwork—burnout is inevitable. Consider measuring volunteer satisfaction, coordinator wellbeing, and program sustainability alongside traditional metrics.

Invest in Professional Development

Conferences, training, and peer networks aren't luxuries—they're sanity savers. When coordinators connect with others in similar roles, they realize they're not alone, learn new strategies, and return energized. Organizations that invest in their coordinators' growth see better retention.

A Personal Note​

I've experienced burnout in this field. Most of us have. The pull to give more, do more, and sacrifice ourselves for the mission is strong—and often celebrated. But a burned-out coordinator helps no one.

If you're in the thick of it right now, here's what I want you to hear: Your wellbeing matters. Not just instrumentally (because you're more effective when you're healthy) but intrinsically. You deserve rest, boundaries, and support.

And if you're an organizational leader reading this: Your coordinators are telling you, through turnover, through stretched-thin performance, through their exhaustion, that something needs to change. The tools and resources exist to make this work sustainable. The question is whether we have the will to use them.

What's one thing you've done to protect your own wellbeing in this work? I'd genuinely love to hear.

#volunteermanagementexpert #myTRS #volunteermanagement #burnout #nonprofit