13Oct 2016 by William Simi
Overcoming the Overhead Myth

Overcoming the Overhead Myth

Not For Profit
If you work in the non-profit sector then you’ve almost certainly come across Dan Pallotta’s highly influential TED talk from 2009 ‘The Way We Think About Charity Is Dead Wrong’ – and if you haven’t then we would strongly urge you to do so. The key element of the TED talk is the concept of ‘The Overhead Myth’ – the ingrained and persistent belief that a non-profit organization’s key aim should always be to limit and reduce its overhead above all other objectives. There’s a belief that spending money on fundraising efforts, advertising campaigns and talented, experienced personnel is somehow contrary to the aims of a charity – and that causes a problem for the non-profit sector. If you’re ever going to grow your charity, increase your fundraising income and…
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05May 2015 by William Simi
Focusing on Overhead: The Nonprofit Circle

Focusing on Overhead: The Nonprofit Circle

Business Advisory, FREE Business Tools: Learn the Secrets, Non Profit Principles: Steering You in the Right Direction
Think about how you donate to charities; do you focus on the percentage of your dollar that will actually go towards the cause? If for every one dollar donated 50% of the amount goes towards the cause, would you still donate? How about 40%? 30%? 10%? Here is some food for thought. Overhead expenses and the cause or goal of the nonprofit can be two good measurable indicators of success within a nonprofit organization. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation point out that they use many measurable indicators to prove their cause is a success without limiting themselves to JUST the overhead metric. Their causes or goals are measurable, attainable, and set within a time limit to encourage continued movement towards the goal/cause. SMART goals, as you might have heard them referred to in…
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