ItвЂ™s meaningless because you canвЂ™t have exceptional programs and services if you donвЂ™t have solid staff behind them, if you donвЂ™t have evaluation systems to figure out if you are making a difference, if you donвЂ™t have a fundraising function to bring the revenue in the door to make those programs and services operate, if you donвЂ™t have the infrastructure, the technology, all of the things that you need to make those programs and services run well. Now overhead, I think, is a very meaningless distinction in the nonprofit sector, and we need to move beyond it. All of those things in the second bucket are typically considered вЂњoverhead.вЂќ So overhead is the idea that nonprofit organizations can separate what they spend on programs and services, the mission work of the organization, versus what they spend on infrasturucture, staffing, systems, fundraising function, administrative costs. Today I want to talk about why nonprofit board members and donors need to get over overhead. Hi IвЂ™m Nell Edgington from Social Velocity. To learn more about getting over overhead and raising capacity building dollars for your nonprofit, downloadВ the Launch a Capacity Capital Campaign Guide. And you can view all of the Social Velocity videos on the Social VelocityВ YouTube channel. The transcript of the video is also below.

Because if we can move beyond overhead, we will have a much stronger, more effective nonprofit sector. But we will only get there if nonprofit leaders across the country start having that conversation with their board members and donors. This is a really destructive idea, and we need to move beyond it. Traditional wisdomВ is that nonprofits should keep вЂњoverheadвЂќ (administrative, fundraising, systems, technology, staffing) costs as low as possible. So, to add to that library, today IвЂ™m talking about why we need to get over overhead. As I mentioned earlier, I amВ building a video library of topics that can spur discussion among your board and donors.

Download boards and beyond videos