Nobody Trusts Non-Profits
Thanks to Tactical Philanthropy for pointing out this Ellison Research study that suggests a majority of Americans do not trust non-profits to spend their money efficiently. Most of us apparently believe non-profits spend too much money on fund-raising and administration. The average American believes that 22.4 cents out of every dollar would be reasonable, but that most non-profits spend 36.3 cents/dollar. (Note: This is the perception of Americans, not necessarily the actual figures. The Ellison poll didn’t comment on the real levels.) I suppose if nothing else this tells non-profits what level of non-program support would be acceptable to most Americans.
October 20th, 2008 at 9:43 am
Not to mention the fact that those persons administrating the charity may never have been poor, or may never have ever worked - owing to the fact that charitable donations may or may not be the best policy for reducing poverty when the choice is given to boards who merely wish to perpetuate their own existence, and their own lucrative perks.