Pallotta challenges the stigma around non-profit organizations investing some of their donations into overhead that helps them retain top talent and expand their reach and impact. See what he means when he talks about fighting a \u201csmall pie mentality,\u201d and learn how strategic investment in the right overhead can help your fundraiser not merely return a bigger slice of pie \u2013\u202fit can help you expand the entire pie.<\/p>\n
There’s a deep-seated stigma in the world of charity and non-profit giving. That stigma is about fundraising overhead.\u00a0Professional\u00a0fundraiser\u00a0Dan Pallotta puts it like this:<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’ve all been taught that charities should spend\u202fas little as possible on overhead \u2013 things like fundraising \u2013 under the theory that the less money you spend on fundraising,\u202fthe more money there is available for the cause. That\u2019s true if it’s a depressing world\u202fin which this pie cannot be made any bigger.\u202fBut if it’s a logical world in which investment in fundraising actually raises more funds and makes the pie bigger,\u202fthen we have it precisely backward,\u202fand we should be investing more money, not less, in fundraising,\u202fbecause fundraising is the one thing\u202fthat has the potential to multiply the amount of money\u202favailable for the cause that we care about so deeply.\u201d<\/p>\n