This session directly challenges the nonprofit sector’s toxic glorification of overwork, martyrdom, and mission-driven burnout — particularly as it impacts Black staff, leaders, and organizers. It reclaims rest, boundaries, and joy as integral to liberation and sustainability. The workshop invites participants to confront the ways white supremacist culture manifests in nonprofit workplace habits and decision-making norms: urgency, perfectionism, over-productivity, and scarcity.

By the end of this session, participants will:

• Identify characteristics of white dominant culture in nonprofit work habits (e.g. urgency, individualism, defensiveness — see Tema Okun’s work).

• Understand how sacrificial labor is disproportionately demanded from Black staff, often framed as "passion" or "resilience."

• Explore rest and ease as core strategies for resistance, healing, and creative power.

• Begin designing new workplace rituals and systems that honor sustainability, community, and wellness.