This entry is in response to an op ed piece by Nicholas D. Kristof in the New York Times on December 24, 2008: The Sin in Doing Good Deeds.
Easing our insistence on low overhead ratios for charities, will help them to co-opt the profit motive. One reason that nonprofits are not as effective with their own in fundraising is not specifically the profit motive, but the fact that the public insists on nonprofits maintaining low overhead ratios (such as 85%). On the face of it, it makes sense that donors don’t want to see their money spent on administration or fundraising costs – they want it to go directly into programs.