I’ve been talking to people in different small charities, and I’ve noticed the same problems surfacing again and again – even though their work is very different.
I’ve boiled these down to three areas:
- Pressure of survival crowds-out good decision-making
- Overwhelm is a prioritisation problem, not a motivation problem
- Support is misaligned with how change actually happens.
1 – Pressure of survival crowds-out good decision-making
When funding is uncertain and cashflow is tight, organisations prioritise what brings money in now, so fundraising always rises to the top.
Strategy, systems, comms, and even delivery improvements get postponed – not because they’re unimportant, but because they don’t feel safe to focus on.
Money arrives late, early, or all at once, but projects are expected to run on fixed timelines regardless. The result is stress, stop–start delivery, and plans that unravel before they’re implemented.
2 – Overwhelm is a prioritisation problem, not a motivation problem
Small charities are not short of ideas or commitment. They are juggling too many urgent demands at once, with limited admin or coordination support.
Leaders are juggling finance, fundraising, comms, volunteers, reporting, strategy — often with little or no administrative support. This creates a situation where skilled people are spending time firefighting rather than thinking.
Without help deciding what matters right now, everything feels equally critical – and progress stalls.
3 – Support is misaligned with how change actually happens
I repeatedly heard conformation that a lot of external support feels designed for large charities and is out of touch with the realities facing small and micro charities.
I also heard it is front-loaded and arrives in bursts: advice, strategies, recommendations etc. One person I spoke to was particularly blunt about it: consultants will “do a pigeon shit on you”, he said; “they swoop in, unload everything they think you need to think about and do, then fly off and you never see them again”.
What’s missing, he said, is sustained follow-up: someone to help organisations adjust, revisit priorities, and stay focused as circumstances change; someone to come back months later and ask, “What actually stuck? What changed? What needs adjusting?”
Have I got it wrong?
These are just my thoughts based on a few conversations, but they chime with my own experience in the voluntary sector.
Do they chime with yours? I’m curious, so I’ve put together this short poll:
Which of these MOST gets in the way of your charity doing its best work:
- Constant fundraising pressure
- Too many priorities at once
- Funding uncertainty & late decisions
- Admin / coordination gaps
- Burnout & stretched capacity
I’d love to know if I’m on the right track or barking up the wrong tree.
Update, 20 February 2026
The poll is now closed and the results are in!
