By
Impactpool
What did the new research actually find?
CharityJob's *Voices of Fundraising 2026*, reported by [Civil Society on 4 August 2026](https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/fundraisers-concerned-about-ai-impact-on-role-survey-finds.html), surveyed 160 fundraisers. Just under half said they experience work-related stress "usually or always", with performance targets, heavy workloads and insufficient resourcing named as the main drivers. Wellbeing provision was described as "relatively sparse" against those stress levels: one third of respondents had access to mental health resources, and fewer than one quarter could take dedicated wellbeing days. And then the finding that should reshape your hiring plan: among those who had already left fundraising, **two-thirds said they would consider returning.**
Why is re-recruiting former staff so valuable right now?
Because the alternative is expensive. Writing in the [World Economic Forum on 17 July 2026](https://www.weforum.org/stories/jobs-and-the-future-of-work/ai-jobs-livelihood/),
Mark Esposito and Melodena Stephens cite Standard Chartered data showing roughly **$49,000 saved per employee who is reskilled and redeployed internally rather than hired externally**. A returning alumnus sits close to that economics: they already know your mission, your systems and your donors. The market is also more fluid than it looks. The [2026 Sustainability Census](https://www.eco-business.com/news/global-sustainability-hiring-holds-steady-despite-tougher-business-climate-survey-finds/), a survey of 2,340 professionals across 76 countries by recruiter Acre and consultancy SLR, reported by Eco-Business on 27 July 2026, found that **47% of respondents planned to move to another employer within a year**. Roughly half the sustainability profession is open to a conversation. Some of them used to work for you.
What does a leaver actually remember about you?
The exit, mostly. Which is why restructuring done badly is a retention problem disguised as a cost problem. [Civil Society reported on 4 August 2026](https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/staff-at-rnli-s-closing-site-vote-to-strike-over-redundancy-terms.html) that around 50 staff at the RNLI's Inshore Lifeboat Centre voted for strike action on 11, 19 and 25 August after redundancy talks broke down. The RNLI points to a transitional support package including relocation help and job guarantees; Unite general secretary Sharon Graham called expecting staff to relocate without remuneration "completely unfair". Whatever the merits, the story is now part of the employer brand. Contrast that with the wider funding squeeze. Bond's [5 August 2026 analysis](https://www.bond.org.uk/news/2026/08/building-a-funding-pipeline-that-reflects-your-strategy/) notes UK aid has fallen to 0.43% of GNI, its lowest since 1999, and that more than half of UK charities rely on a single funding source for over 90% of their income. Most impact employers will restructure something in the next 18 months. How you do it determines whether those people are a future pipeline or a future headline.
What should you do in the next quarter?
Four moves, none of them are expensive.
Build an alumni list and actually use it. Every leaver from the last three years, with their specialism and their exit reason. Send them your roles before the market sees them.
Fix the wellbeing gap you can measure. If a third of your team has access to mental health support and under a quarter can take a wellbeing day, that is a fixable number, not a culture problem.
Name AI honestly in your job ads.** Fundraisers in the CharityJob survey were split — anxious about displacement, but able to see AI freeing time for the relational work they joined for. Employers who say which of those they intend to get better applicants.
Make good exits a policy. Transparent terms, honest timelines, real transition support. It costs less than a failed search.
What This Means for Your Organization
Your best-fit candidates for 2027 are not strangers. They are people who already believed in your mission and left for reasons you can usually name — stress, resourcing, or a restructure handled under pressure. Fixing the conditions and keeping the door open is faster and cheaper than competing for scarce external talent in a market where nearly half of professionals are already looking.
Key Takeaway: Two-thirds of former fundraisers would consider returning to the profession, and internal redeployment saves roughly $49,000 per employee versus external hiring — which makes your alumni list the highest-return recruitment asset your organization owns.
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