Overhead over head
Ellison Research has released a study about the public perception of overhead spending by charities. The results: too high. The double-whammy is that not only do people think that charities spend too much on overhead, they also overestimate the amount spent, considerably.
The upside to this is that, while there is a misunderstanding of the status quo, on average people think that charities should have an overhead rate of 22.4% - far higher than the highest number (usually 15%) imposed by various donors and foundations.
Although we're strange ones, theatres are nonprofits, and it's our responsibility as managers and fundraisers to educate our supporters about these facts as much as it is our job to promote the performing arts. There is extensive discussion, driven largely by reports coming out of the Nonprofit Finance Fund about the problems created in the nonprofit sector by facile overhead ratio criteria imposed by funders. The best thing we can do is let our funders know about work done by folks like the NFF, and also let them know that the general public has a much different concept of what's acceptable than the arbitrary standard stifling the sector now.
The upside to this is that, while there is a misunderstanding of the status quo, on average people think that charities should have an overhead rate of 22.4% - far higher than the highest number (usually 15%) imposed by various donors and foundations.
Although we're strange ones, theatres are nonprofits, and it's our responsibility as managers and fundraisers to educate our supporters about these facts as much as it is our job to promote the performing arts. There is extensive discussion, driven largely by reports coming out of the Nonprofit Finance Fund about the problems created in the nonprofit sector by facile overhead ratio criteria imposed by funders. The best thing we can do is let our funders know about work done by folks like the NFF, and also let them know that the general public has a much different concept of what's acceptable than the arbitrary standard stifling the sector now.
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