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Mcpherson: The Donors' Dilemma: Impact And/Or Infrastructure
Foundation: Gates Foundation, Ford Foundation
"People and communities served by charities don't need low overhead, they need high performance," three CEOs write in an open letter to donors in the Los Angeles Times.
"They argue that many charities should spend more on overhead."
The letter, penned by the CEOs of the Ford Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, makes the case that charities should spend more of their donations on overhead, which includes training, planning, evaluation, and internal systems.
"These expenses allow a charity to sustain itself (the way a family has to pay the electric bill) or to improve itself (the way a family might invest in college tuition)," the letter says.
"As a donor, you choose what impact is important to you, but institutions and donors are beginning to understand that you need the people to make the impact possible."
The letter comes on the heels of a similar open letter from the CEOs of two other major charities, the Chronicle of Higher Education reports.
In that letter, they argue that charities should spend more of their donations on programs that actually make a difference, rather than on "restricted and unrestricted" donations, in which a donor can only donate to a specific program or fund.
The CEOs write that these types of
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