Duncan Batty and Alan Clayton have launched EmPower, a mental fitness business designed to support the wellbeing and performance of career fundraisers everywhere.

Together Batty and Clayton have raised millions in over 50 years’ combined experience as career fundraisers. They also have over a decade in developing mental fitness solutions.

According to Clayton, great mental fitness is the number one lead indicator of a high performing fundraising team. He ranks it as far more important than fundraising training technique, and argues that it is “good for everybody, of course”. This includes individual fundraisers, the fundraising team, their colleagues across the charity or nonprofit, donors to the charity (in terms of better meeting their needs), and ultimately service users benefiting from a more effective organisation.

The benefits of staff members’ improved mental fitness for charities themselves were also part of what motivated Batty and Clayton in creating the business. These would include:

• Higher performance, more income
• Lower costs due to absence and under performance
• Less stress
• Loyal employees
• Building a reputation as a great employer

Alan Clayton is Chair of Revolutionise International, the global fundraising accelerator, and the author of Great Fundraising Organizations. He has often spoken about mental fitness and his own journey at fundraising conferences over the last fifteen years.

For the last five years, Alan has researched, modelled and proven the Empower programme to build mental fitness. His work is based on rigorous research and literature reviews, working with professionally qualified people and much lived experience.

Duncan Batty has had a career in fundraising leadership spanning local, regional and national charities, largely in the environment and human health sectors. He is a trustee of Making A Difference Locally (MADL), Volunteer Mentor for South Yorkshire Charity Mentors and a previous member of a National Trust Advisory Group and Deputy Chair of the Association of NHS Charities (now NHS Charities Together) Fundraising Mutual Interest Group.

Despite a successful career, he has struggled with imposter syndrome and a sense of not ‘belonging’ at work. An early adopter of the EmPower Programme has was determined to support others’ mental fitness, so joined EmPower in 2025.

Resilience and wellbeing for fundraisers?

The EmPower Mental Fitness team recognise that there are aspects of resilience and wellbeing that are unique to career fundraisers. These include:

• Fundraisers can’t feel in control over their and their organisations’ destiny when the funding environment is so turbulent.
• The the concept of ‘connection’ is more complex in fundraising than in perhaps any other career.
• How can a fundraiser manage their emotions if feeling overwhelmed, anxious and perhaps working remotely?

What to do about it?

The wellbeing challenges faced by fundraisers, fundraising leaders and charity leaders are widely recognised, highlighted not least by the overlapping financial crises of the past five years and more, including COVID and the cost of living crisis, and the current crisis following the US government’s dismantling of USAID. Wellbeing and mental health have been on the agenda of many fundraising conferences in recent times.

Just last week international fundraising think tank Rogare published a report on the burnout crisis amongst fundraisers in Ireland.

Batty and Clayton have spent the past three years researching the issues and testing solutions. Their answers form the root of the new EmPower programme launched this month.

The programme has taken three years to research, design, trial and prove. It combines lived experience with a team of qualified psychologists and a therapist, as well as other professionals from the field.

In answer to the three questions above they conclude:

• It is simple, with core solutions that apply to every fundraiser, but with many variations nuanced to the individual.
• Great mental fitness can be built in a team in just three months of proactive effort, with easily manageable time commitment.
• Understanding the problem, and taking time out, only helps manage the symptoms. Repeated small actions build resilience.
• Success is measurable, both in terms of wellbeing and financial performance.

The EmPower programme

The EmPower programme they have developed and tested includes:

• An education seminar so you understand your mental fitness thoroughly. You participate in this with a group of other fundraisers.
• Analysing what you need to do, and what your desired outcomes are.
• Creating your desired outcomes and actions with expert support.
• A 12-week training programme of simple and easy actions, supported by:
  
  – A tracker app
  
  – The participants’ group
  
  – EmPower’s experts
  
  – 12 mini-seminars (online) for further learning, reinforcement and momentum.
  
  – A graduation and sign-off.

Fundraising teams can complete the EmPower programme as a group. Sole fundraisers or small teams can also take part – EmPower can help include them in a larger group.

Approximately 100 people have graduated from the EmPower programme. Clayton reports that “their average increase in Schwarz wellbeing scores is 36% “, explaining “this is a very large number for those not familiar with Schwarz”.

Testimonials are available on request from EmPower.

EmPower is running a free one-hour taster for fundraisers on 30 April.