In May, I took a month-long sabbatical, including nearly two weeks in Morocco. Here's what happened while I was gone — and what a $43M funder investment report says about doing it right.

In May, I took my own sabbatical. A month of being (for the most part) completely offline from my business, including almost 2 weeks in Morocco — part solo, part in a group led by Jodie Patterson.

I came back different. This wasn’t the elusive “vacation-rested” version of a trip, it was deep, lasting, and impacted my infrastructure. It was reparative.

I've also been on the other side of that sentence — stepping in as interim leadership while an ED took the sabbatical their board finally approved. Holding things steady, keeping decisions moving, and making sure the rest didn't quietly morph into one crisis or another, after their return.

Both experiences taught me the same thing:

Rest only works as a strategy if someone planned for what happens while the leader is gone.

I recently read Rest on the Rise, a new impact report from the Rest Roundtable, which included data and details from 14 funders, 160 combined years of experience investing in nonprofit sabbaticals.

– $43 million invested in nonprofit sabbaticals since 1989.

– $7.3 million awarded to 175 leaders in the last three years alone.

– 57% of Roundtable funders now offer sabbatical grants annually as a standing practice, not a one-time gift.

Alongside the grant itself, funders report providing coaching, peer cohorts, re-entry programming — and support for interim staff. My gosh, more of this please!

However, there is some unfinished business:

Only half of funders explicitly focus on BIPOC and marginalized leaders. And there's a real gap in the middle of the country as most of this investment sits on the coasts. If you’re from the Midwest, you’re not surprised to hear this.

If you're an ED or board chair: a sabbatical only works as rest if it's built like a transition—interim leadership named (or internal ACTING leadership, if you haven’t planned for outside interim support), institutional knowledge documented, re-entry planned. Otherwise it's not rest, it’s just a six-week lull that isn’t reparative or long-lasting.

If you're a funder: you may already be funding the sabbatical. The strongest programming and organizational support also funds the “WHO” of the organization’s cover while your grantee’s leader-by-title is gone.

Rest is infrastructure, and so is the plan for what happens while someone rests.

Building a sabbatical program, or wondering who covers your organization while you take the leave you're desperately in need of? Let's talk.

P.S. I didn't check email once in Morocco. That was the plan, and I’m so proud of myself for sticking to it!

-Naomi, your Leaving Well guide to navigating workplace transitions 🧡

We normalize workplace transitions one organization + person at a time. Leaving Well is the art + practice of leaving in the workplace, with intention + joy.