Why Saying “No” Matters
Before I moved into consulting, I interviewed for a senior-level communications role in the non-profit sector. At one point, I was asked what I would do if I received competing partner feedback on a project.
My answer was simple: as a communications leader, I need to trust the strategy and the brief. It’s my job to evaluate whether feedback aligns with the overarching goal, and if it takes us off course, I have to be willing to say no.
The response? “We don’t say no here.”
That exchange has stayed with me because it illustrates a deep and ongoing challenge in the nonprofit sector: the pressure to say yes to everything. Coupled with chronic underfunding, a scarcity mindset, and the churn of burned-out employees, it’s no wonder so many organizations struggle to build strong communications systems that last.
The Cost of Always Saying Yes
In the short term, saying yes can feel easier. It avoids conflict. It makes partners happy. It creates the illusion of progress. But over time, it undermines strategy. Teams get pulled in too many directions, chasing competing priorities that dilute impact.
This is especially true in communications. Without the confidence to hold the line, “yes to everything” results in reactive tactics, fragmented messaging, and missed opportunities to build consistent, strategic narratives.
The Burnout Crisis
This isn’t just a leadership challenge — it’s a burnout crisis. Recent research shows how widespread and acute the problem has become in Canadian nonprofits:
36% of nonprofit workers say they “often or always” feel burned out.
71% of leaders report experiencing burnout.
Nearly one-third of nonprofit workers are ready to quit because of burnout.
73% of employees reported experiencing burnout in just three months, with 25% planning to leave within six months.
Communications professionals are particularly vulnerable. They carry the dual burden of managing external crises and internal morale, often while underpaid, under-resourced, and overstretched. The result is high turnover and lost momentum — exactly the opposite of what strong communications needs to succeed.
What I See From the Outside
As a consultant, I work with organizations whose missions couldn’t be more different: from cancer research to fundraising education to food insecurity. Yet the challenges I encounter are strikingly similar:
Ambitious goals without enough staff or time.
A lack of systems and processes to carry strategy forward.
Competing priorities that pull attention in too many directions.
A culture of scarcity that makes it hard to say no.
From the outside, though, I have the advantage of perspective. I can see the patterns, spot what works, and bring lessons from one client to another. That cross-pollination is often where the breakthroughs happen.
Still Finding My Voice
And here’s where I’ll be candid: moving from senior in-house leadership to consulting hasn’t made me immune. I’m still finding my voice when it comes to saying no and keeping projects firmly on strategy. Sometimes it feels easier to absorb extra asks than to push back.
I suspect many of my peers face the same tension. So I’ll put the question to you: How do you balance strategy with the pressure to say yes?
The So What
Here’s the bigger takeaway: non-profits rarely get to see long-term communications wins. Staff churn, burnout, and a culture of “yes” mean that even the best strategies don’t get the chance to deliver results.
Imagine what could shift if organizations invested in stable, consistent communications support. Imagine if we trusted strategy, stuck with the plan, and gave communications leaders the mandate to say no when it counts.
That’s how we move communications from “nice-to-have” to transformational.