The Everyday Philanthropist

CHAPTER 20Overhead Measures Weaken Civil Society and Diminish Civic Engagement

We've all been taught that when a charity spends a lot of money on fundraising, they are wasteful. We don't like it. We want our money to go to the cause.

It's unfortunate that we use this narrow word, “fundraising,” to describe an activity that is much broader, more beautiful, and rich in scope than the simple transfer of money. When an organization spends on fundraising, it's spending money to get people off of their couches, away from their TVs and devices, and active in some cause. It's educating them. It's waking them up. It's trying to encourage them to get involved in the great social struggles and challenges of our time.

Imagine if we had an America where everyone was aware of, active, and contributing to the cause of their lives. That's exactly what charities are trying to achieve when they spend money on fundraising.

When we contribute to a political campaign, we expect the campaign to spend virtually all of its money trying to create awareness about the candidate, and get people to participate in their society—get them out of their houses to vote. Why wouldn't we encourage the same kind of grassroots organizing when it comes to cancer, violence against women, poverty, and illiteracy?

When my company produced the AIDSRides and the Breast Cancer 3‐Day walks in the 1990s and early 2000s, the money we spent on overhead and fundraising was labeled as some kind of a necessary evil. Some people ...