#369- The Quiet Machinery of Hope - Nonprofit Lowdown

Summary6 min read

Episode Overview

Podcast: Nonprofit Lowdown
Host: Rhea Wong
Episode: #369 - The Quiet Machinery of Hope
Date: December 22, 2025

In this poignant year-end episode, host Rhea Wong departs from her usual content of nonprofit strategies and resources to speak directly to listeners' hearts. Reflecting on the heaviness of recent world events and the cumulative toll of "holding the light" in the nonprofit sector, Rhea offers a deep and personal meditation on resilience, hope, and the quiet but vital work of nonprofit leaders. This episode is an acknowledgment of struggle, a collective permission to rest, and an affirmation of the invaluable role played by those committed to healing and repair.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Weight of Recent Events

Timestamp [02:00]
Rhea sets the stage, referencing difficult current events: mass shootings in Australia and at Brown University, and the murder of film director Rob Renner.
She names the heaviness that many listeners are feeling and normalizes the sense of overwhelm, explaining how trauma manifests both mentally and physically.
- “It is a week when the air itself feels weighted. And it is a week that knocks the wind out of you before you're even fully awake.” [03:10]

The Emotional Reality of Nonprofit Work

Timestamp [05:00]
Drawing from over 20 years in the sector, Rhea describes nonprofits as “the quiet machinery of hope.”
She honors the crucial—though often invisible—work of nonprofit professionals:
- “When the world burns, it's nonprofits that stitch things back together. You are the ones who are feeding people, housing people, teaching kids, fighting for rights, creating community, bringing order to chaos and hope to places that may not have a whole lot.” [06:45]
Rhea candidly discusses how the responsibilities can feel like too much, validating the desire to retreat and the struggle with leadership under pressure.

Reframing the Challenge: “Wired for Repair”

Timestamp [08:00]
Rhea reframes the burden as a calling:
- “You didn't choose this line of work because it was easy. You chose it because you're one of the few people wired for repair. Let me say that again. You are wired for repair.” [08:41]
She references the Billie Jean King quote from the US Open—“Pressure is a privilege”—to further contextualize the importance and honor of this difficult work.

Practical Compassion and Small Shifts

Timestamp [10:20]
Instead of urging listeners to push harder or gloss over hardship, Rhea advocates for incremental kindness—what she calls a “1 degree shift toward light.”
- “Maybe it means a deep breath or a donor call that builds connection, not extraction. And remember, in the arc of history, we are on the right side.” [11:05]

The Work Is Worth It—A Poetic Call to Action

Timestamp [12:40]
Rhea shares an excerpt from Jack Gilbert’s poem A Brief for the Defense as an anchor and reminder for tough times:
- “We must risk delight. We can do without pleasure, but not delight, not enjoyment. We must have the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless furnace of this world…” [13:10]
She uses the poem to highlight the necessity of hope and joy, even amid relentless struggle.

Helpers Anchor Us

Timestamp [15:00]
Referencing Mr. Rogers and his mother’s advice to “look for the helpers,” Rhea identifies nonprofit professionals as society’s essential helpers, providing stability when the world feels chaotic.
- “Our sector is the helper. You are the helper. And when the world feels unrecognizable, helpers anchor us back to humanity.” [15:45]
She reminds listeners of the value in the “unglamorous” daily acts—calls, appeals, service—that together declare: “The future is still worth fighting for.” [16:20]

Permission to Rest and a Call to Resilience

Timestamp [17:30]
Rhea closes with appreciation and practical advice, offering “a permission slip” to rest and a reminder that nonprofit leaders need not fix everything today.
- “You just need to keep your corner lit. I want to remind you to give yourself the grace to feel the heaviness and the courage to take the next right step.” [17:52]

Looking to 2026: Staying Steady and Prepared

Timestamp [19:00]
Rhea shares her belief that 2026 will require nonprofit sector leaders to be “steady,” “sharper,” “bolder,” and “more organized and resourced than we’ve ever been.”
- “Remember, hope isn't passive, it is funded. And if you're tired, I get it. Totally understandable. And you have every reason. And if you're discouraged, I get that too. But don't mistake exhaustion for defeat. You're still here. And the world still needs you.” [20:05]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On the core truth of nonprofit work:
“The world would fall apart faster without you. And we all know it, even when we forget to say it.” [07:35]
On why the burdens feel so heavy:
“You didn't choose this line of work because it was easy. You chose it because you're one of the few people wired for repair.” [08:41]
On making an impact, brick by brick:
“It is the step by step, minute by minute, brick by brick, work that you do that will make a difference and has made a difference in the lives of millions already.” [12:13]
On embracing small acts of resilience:
“We can just take a 1 degree shift towards the light, a 1 degree shift of grace towards ourselves….” [10:35]
From Jack Gilbert’s poem:
“We must risk delight… We can do without pleasure, but not delight, not enjoyment. We must have the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless furnace of this world, to make injustice the only measure of our attention is to praise the devil…” [13:10]
On rest as a radical act:
“The permission slip that I'm going to give you is that you don't need to fix the whole world today. You just need to keep your corner lit.” [17:38]
On what’s ahead:
“We need to get sharper. We need to get bolder. We need to get more organized and more resourced than we've ever been. Because the winds have never been fiercer.” [19:42]
Ultimate affirmation:
“Don't mistake exhaustion for defeat. You're still here. And the world still needs you.” [20:05]

Structure & Flow

The episode gently flows from shared sorrow, to communal validation, to encouragement and a practical call to self-care, all buttressed by literary wisdom and an unflinching acknowledgment of sector realities. Rhea keeps a compassionate, conversational tone—equal parts peer, leader, and cheerleader—creating a safe space for listeners to lay down their burdens, if only for a moment.

Timestamps for Key Segments

[02:00] - Acknowledgement of heavy current events and the sensation of overwhelm
[05:00] - The unsentimental value of nonprofit work
[08:00] - “Wired for repair” and reframing hardship
[10:20] - The “1 degree shift” toward compassion and self-care
[12:40] - Jack Gilbert poem and reflections on delight
[15:00] - Looking for “the helpers” and daily acts of courage
[17:30] - Permission to rest and the courage to take the next step
[19:00] - Looking into 2026: the need for resilience

Final Takeaway

Nonprofit Lowdown #369 is a rare quiet space in the nonprofit podcast world—a compassionate, validating reminder that it’s okay to be tired, that the daily invisible work matters immensely, and that hope is an active practice. With wisdom both gentle and firm, Rhea Wong closes the year by reminding nonprofit leaders everywhere to rest, to cherish small acts of resilience, and to remember that, in her words:
“Every time you step into a meeting, send an appeal, call a donor, serve a family, you're making a simple declaration, and it is this. The future is still worth fighting for.” [16:20]

Loading summary

Transcript1 lines

[00:00]
A
Hey, you, it's Rhea Wong. If you're listening to Nonprofit Load On, I'm pretty sure that you'd love my weekly newsletter. Every Tuesday morning, you get updates on the newest podcast episodes. And then interspersed, we have fun special invitations for newsletter subscribers only and fundraising inspo because I know what it feels like to be in the trenches alone. On top of that, you get cute dog photos. Best of all, it is free. So what are you waiting for? Head over to riawong.com now to sign up Foreign. Welcome to Nonprofit Lowdown. I'm your host, Rhea Wong. Hey, podcast listeners, it's Ri coming to you once again with Nonprofit Lowdown. Welcome to the very last episode of Nonprofit lowdown of 2025. Honestly, friends, when I started this little project in 2018, I had no idea I would still be doing this all these years later, but here I am. I wanted to record this podcast for you today because something was weighing heavy on my heart. And this podcast episode, it's the last of the year. No tips, no tactics, no strategies. I just wanted a moment to share and talk with you as human beings living on this planet, in this country, in 2025. So earlier this week, we as a world community, we're faced with some pretty tough things. The shooting in Australia, the shooting at Brown University, the murder of Rob Renner, who was a director of one of my personal favorite films, the Princess Bride. And it can all just feel really heavy. And I just wanted to acknowledge that we're living in that can feel heavy. It's a week when the air itself feels weighted. And it is a week that knocks the wind out of you before you're even fully awake. What I have learned over the many years of healing is that what happens inside of us in these moments, trauma makes us hyper vigilant. It affects us in our bodies. We have difficulty breathing, we have difficulty sleeping, our minds spin out. And frankly, this is not you being dramatic. This is your nervous system doing the job it's supposed to do. The hard thing is that it just feels like all these things keep coming at us and we're just not able to catch our breath because especially in the nonprofit world, it feels like one thing after the other. And as people who are holding the space and holding the light and holding the responsibility of so many out there who aren't able to do it themselves, it can feel heavy after a while. And when it feels heavy, when leadership feels heavy in weeks like this, it's that fundraising feels harder, decision making feels slower, the future feels foggy or Maybe you're feeling a little pessimistic, and yet you still show up. And so I want to talk about the nonprofit sector. I have been in this sector for more than 20 years. It is the only sector I have ever really known. And I think of the nonprofit sector as the quiet machinery of hope. And I want to take a moment to honor the importance of what we do without romanticizing it, without the sentimentality. Because the truth is that when the world burns, it's nonprofits that stitch things back together. You are the ones who are feeding people, housing people, teaching kids, fighting for rights, creating community, bringing order to chaos and hope to places that may not have a whole lot. The truth is, the world would fall apart faster without you. And we all know it, even when we forget to say it. But as nonprofit leaders, especially in a year like we've had, especially in a week like this has been, it makes you feel like you want to crawl into bed with a blanket over your head. And honestly, that makes sense. But the thing is, you didn't choose this line of work because it was easy. You chose it because you're one of the few people wired for repair. Let me say that again. You are wired for repair. I was thinking today, actually about the sign at the US Open, which is Pressure is a privilege by Billie Jean King. And the truth is, for a lot of us who are called to heal, called to uplift, called to build community, it is not an easy path, but it is the righteous path. It is the path that we were born to do. And I know so many of you out here are by nature healers and community builders. And you hold space and you build and you soothe and you feed and you nurture. And that is a beautiful thing. Thing. So in the final days of 2025, I'm not gonna give any big speeches here, I'm not gonna pour any toxic positivity, but I just wanted to maybe remind you that we can just take a 1 degree shift towards the light, a 1 degree shift of grace towards ourselves, a 1 degree shift of taking care of ourselves. And maybe that looks like a kind text that you're sending to someone. Maybe it means a moment you're taking for yourself. Maybe it means a deep breath or a donor call that builds connection, not extraction. And remember, in the arc of history, we are on the right side. Change can be long in coming, or it can happen overnight. But it is the step by step, minute by minute, brick by brick, work that you do that will make a difference and has made a difference in the lives of millions already. So I'm going to leave you with this. When weeks like this stack up, I come back to this poem. It's Jack Gilbert's A Brief for the Defense. It's not soft, it's not naive, and it's the truest call to action that I know. So if you would allow me, I'm going to just share one brief little snippet with you that I find myself returning to. A lot. We must risk delight. We can do without pleasure, but not delight, not enjoyment. We must have the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless furnace of this world, to make injustice the only measure of our attention is to praise the devil. If the locomotive of the Lord runs us down, we should give thanks that the end had magnitude. We must admit there will be music. Despite everything, I share that all. To say that it is easy to be in despair. It is easy to lose hope. It is easy to succumb to cynicism. But in moments like this, when it's hard, I hear Mr. Roger's mom in my head, who always told him to look for the helpers. Our sector is the helper. You are the helper. And when the world feels unrecognizable, helpers anchor us back to. And when the world feels unrecognizable, helpers anchor us back to humanity. And as anybody who's ever worked in nonprofit knows, the work ain't glamorous, it's not loud, but it is the backbone of the world that we want to build. Every time you step into a meeting, send an appeal, call a donor, serve a family, you're making a simple declaration, and it is this. The future is still worth fighting for. And that's not small, and that's not soft. And that is a radical act of faith. So today of all days, in this week, as we head towards the end of the year, I'm going to give you a permission slip. The permission slip that I'm going to give you is that you don't need to fix the whole world today. You just need to keep your corner lit. I want to remind you to give yourself the grace to feel the heaviness and the courage to take the next right step. Anyway, I did a podcast recently about my predictions for 2026. But let me say, looking ahead, whatever happens, I know this 2026 will need you to be steady. Because let's face it, the world is asking us to level up. We need to get sharper. We need to. We need to get bolder. We need to get more organized and more resourced than we've ever been. Because the winds have never been fiercer. So if you're listening to this in the last weeks of 2025, I want to remind you, rest, recharge. Then we'll get back out there in 2026, ready to build, ready to serve, ready to raise the money that fuels the mission. Remember, hope isn't passive, is funded. And if you're tired, I get it. Totally understandable. And you have every reason. And if you're discouraged, I get that too. But don't mistake exhaustion for defeat. You're still here. And the world still needs you. So in closing, happy holidays, my friends. Take care of yourselves. Hold your people close and as always, get that money, honey. Happy holidays. I'll see you in 2026. Hey fundraisers. Looking to nail those big fundraising asks? Check out my Big Ask gift program@riawong.com Bag say goodbye to uncertainty and hello to confidence with my program. Get expert strategies and personalized support to secure those game changing donations. Don't let fear hold you back. Join me and take your fundraising to new heights. We're enrolling now@riawong.com bag. That's riawong.com bag. So if you like big asks and you cannot lie, I'll see you in the program.