Community Feature
Prioritizing Rest, Joy & Wellness for Nonprofit Leaders
Supporting nonprofit leaders is embedded in how the Wege Foundation shows up for its nonprofit partners.
“That’s really the ethos of the foundation. A lot of the funding and support we do is centered on how we help our grantee partners do their job better and serve the community better,” James Logan, president and CEO of the Wege Foundation and CMF trustee, shared. “When I started [at the foundation] over three years ago, one of the things I talked to our grantee partners about was the importance of the foundation walking alongside them as we do this work. It’s not either-or. We’re working together.”
In partner conversations, the foundation seeks to be intentional about addressing self-care and wellness and uses discretionary funds to address these needs.
“Everyone’s in some sort of crisis because of the nature of the world we live in right now,” Logan said. “If we know of organizations dealing with difficult issues, burnout or needing a restorative moment, we can provide funding through those discretionary funds to help them as needed. For instance, the foundation has funded staff retreats to give organizations time to connect with one another amidst stressful challenges. Additionally, Wege Foundation team members attended the Rockstar Woman Brunch Experience in Grand Rapids as a way of both supporting and recharging alongside inspiring woman in a space designed to empower and connect its attendees in the mission of bettering self and this community.” Logan also acknowledges that needs vary by organization and the foundation actively encourages organizations to put requests around self-care as line items in their grant applications”
“The biggest thing for us is to make sure we’re being responsive to the needs that folks have,” Logan said.
In his previous role in New Orleans, Logan had the opportunity to provide restorative justice grants that allowed him to lean into the human needs of the people serving, not just the people being served. Restorative justice grants were not simply a novel idea but a lifeline to nonprofit leaders in the environmental space who felt unsupported and forced to work in crisis mode and burnt out. In practice, these grants provided a variety of different opportunities, from overnight staff retreats to sending someone to an international conference directly connected to their organizational mission but prohibited due to cost. These opportunities infuse joy, rest and team building into the regular grind of these vital and essential organizations. Armed with those lessons and testimonies, Logan seeks opportunities to create similar opportunities in West Michigan in the future. With a smile, Logan revealed, “Alongside other CMF members, I’m excited to be actively discussing the creating of a pilot of a sabbatical program for a few leaders in Grand Rapids,”
There were many individual conversations about the need for nonprofit partner support, and Wege and other foundations were reaching out for information about the successful nonprofit leader sabbatical program the McGregor Fund operates in Southeast Michigan, when they ultimately decided on a collaborative approach. As the potential pilot and other conversations continue to take shape, Logan underscores the need, whether it is wellness and self-care or organizational capacity building.
In the foundation’s overall work, during their last grant cycle, they received the largest number of grant applications in the foundation’s history.
“The need is definitely there. The proposals we get sometimes are an actual wellness activity, but a lot of them highlight something they don’t have at their organization and how it will allow them to do their work so much better. Usually, it’s additional staffing.”
Logan candidly advises, “Foundations considering expanding how they support their nonprofit partners should be very thoughtful, intentional and authentic with prioritizing the identified needs and how additional resources will meet those needs.”
“Build authentic relationships with your grantee partners so you can have those transparent conversations. You can build the best wellness program in the world, but if no one's going to tell you that they need help, you're not going to be able to use it.” - James Logan, President and CEO of the Wege Foundation and CMF Trustee
Moreover, Logan shared that modeling wellness and self-care within your own organization is critical. “It’s all well and good to talk about how other nonprofits and folks need wellness and self-care, but if you’re not doing that institutionally within your own space, it doesn’t come off the same way. You cannot have folks who work for you reviewing restorative funding requests while experiencing their own stresses related to burnout. And so, you want to make sure that your colleagues are in both a good headspace and good workplace,” Logan said.
He shared that the core of this work is transparent communication and authentic relationship-building with partners.
“Not just in the wellness space, but in general, especially in the climate that we are in. People need to feel comfortable and have a safe space to have a difficult conversation about where they are as an organization or as a leader. It is incredibly vital right now. That candid conversation allows you to support organizations and leaders in a meaningful way. When you support an organization in the way that they need to do their work better, they will have better outcomes and a deeper impact in their community,” Logan said.