Burnout Prevention in the Non-Profit Sector: Toward a Multi-Level Framework of Sustainability

This article synthesises psychological, organisational, and systemic insights to propose a multi-level framework for preventing burnout in the non-profit sector. It argues that sustainability depends on shared responsibility across individuals, organisations, donors, and policy environments. At the individual level, practices such as boundary setting, peer support, and digital wellbeing tools contribute to resilience. At the organisational level, trauma-informed cultures, clear roles, supervision, recognition, and wellbeing budgets embed care into governance and leadership. At the systemic level, donor frameworks and labour standards must recognise burnout prevention as integral to decent work and sustainable development. The framework calls for stronger cross-cultural research, Global South perspectives, and evidence on digital wellbeing interventions. Ultimately, burnout prevention is reframed as a structural and ethical imperative essential for organisational legitimacy, human capital preservation, and the survival of civil society.