Do what you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life, they say.

Well, yes. But, no. Obviously, many choose to work in non-profits because of raw passion. However, just as many leave due to the industry’s high burnout rate. Aside from the high-stress environment, the expectation of free labour is also a contributory factor.

The volume of volunteer/pro-bono work you are thrust into, the obligation to take on extra work, the long office hours, the work weekends, and the ongoing events that demand your attention can make you feel completely stretched and used.

And it may very well take you a long time to realise that as much as you love doing good work for non-profits, constantly sacrificing your personal time for others, may cause you to stop providing (or at least significantly reduce) the amount of free labour you provide.

Why free labour is so common in the non-profit sector
An economist might argue that the value of the work is cheapened because supply exceeds demand. In other words, it’s easy to recruit new blood.

A lot of people view the non-profit sector through pink-tinted lenses. It is almost romantic to envision oneself as the highly passionate social worker who is poor financially but rich in experience and good karma.

A feminist economist, on the other hand, might argue that the non-profit sector, which mostly comprises of women, is already used to providing free labour in another way – unpaid care work.

To the unfamiliar, unpaid care work refers to the unbalanced distribution of housework, including providing care for children and the elderly.

In this argument, women are simply redistributing their internalised sense of obligation, instead of using that time to increase their economic potential.

However, it is almost taboo to talk about money and compensation in the non-profit sector.

In an ideal world, everyone who works in the non-profit sector are selfless beings who work for the satisfaction of the job alone. But not everyone is built this way and many also work for a paycheck. After all, sustainability, including financial sustainability, is important.

Can the expectation of free labour in the non-profit sector be reduced?
The expectation of free labour in the non-profit sector runs deep, and early, too. Most of those who work in this sector start as interns with minimum to no salary. They are also willing to work long hours and weekends, for the better good.

Just to be clear – getting help from good-willed individuals is a good thing. There is strength in those numbers. It affirms that yes, the world is still worth saving.

However, taking advantage of good-willed individuals, on the other hand, should not be condoned. Admirably, one of the forerunners in highlighting one type of abusive free labour system comes from the unpaid intern group themselves.

The Fair Internship Initiative advocates for ‘higher quality and fairly remunerated internships within the United Nations System’.

This is a brilliant initiative, and it’s not like the unpaid internship system made sense in the first place anyway. Bryan Caplan, professor of economics at George Mason University even went as far as saying ‘all internships are illegal‘ in the US.

Employee burnout partly happens when employees working for non-profits get desperate for time for themselves, and they see no other way to make this happen unless they quit it all.

If this thought has ever crossed your mind, you need to start saying no to providing free work. Easier said than done, of course, but look at it this way – you’re helping to improve your movement’s sustainability.

That’s a great reason, isn’t it?

This article first appeared in The New Savvy.

The New Savvy is Asia’s leading financial, investments and career platform for women. Our bold vision is to empower 100 million women to achieve financial happiness. We deliver high-quality content through conferences, e-learning platforms, personal finance apps and e-commerce stores.