What We Carry, Together | A Year-End Reflection

Beloved Sector Colleagues,

As this year comes to a close, many of us are not tallying wins or lessons learned.  We are catching our breath.

We began the year reminding ourselves to take things Bird by Bird. To move with care, humility, and intention in the face of uncertainty. Few of us imagined how necessary that posture would become.

This year has carried disruption layered upon disruption: funding upheaval, political whiplash, global grief, and the quiet, cumulative exhaustion of holding so much for so many. For some, it has meant fear and instability. For others, grief. For all of us, a reckoning with how fragile — and how vital — our work truly is.

If you are tired, tender, or quietly questioning how much more you can hold: you are not alone.

What we are carrying is heavy because we care. We have tethered our lives to work rooted in love of humankind — philanthropy in its truest sense — and love makes us permeable to loss.

So before we rush to resolve or reframe, I want to name what so often goes unspoken in professional spaces:

It is appropriate to grieve.
It is responsible to rest.
It is wise to pause.

As we move into the closing days of the year, my hope for us is simple and spacious:

May you give yourself permission to lay some things down.
May you protect your own life force as fiercely as you protect your mission.
May you remember that none of us were meant to do this alone.

We are at our most powerful when we move purposefully and collectively.
When we let community carry what individuals cannot.

Beloved sector: From all of us at Black Fox Global … We are with you. We are for you. And we are still here, together.

With tenderness and deep respect, and wishes for a gentler 2026,

Natalie Rekstad

Founder | Black Fox Global

P.S. This year called for responsiveness, not polish. We shared open-source tools and reflections as quickly as the moment required, and many aren’t yet captured in our Fundraising Handbook. You can find the full 2025 resource library here.

P.P.S. In a year marked by rapid change, Black Fox Brief has been one way we’ve helped surface context and patterns across the sector. If it would be supportive to your mission and your leadership, you can subscribe for free here.

Photo source: pngtree.com