Charities Urge Donors to Help Pay Overhead Costs

Many charities find it difficult to persuade donors to support the administrative and operational costs of running a nonprofit group, but a few organizations are finding ways to overcome the challenge, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Donors are wary of nonprofit groups that spend money on themselves, and often designate their money to be spent only or mostly on programs. Charities protest that certain administrative costs are necessary to keep the programs growing and retain the best staff members.

Some charities have received grants to cover overhead costs; others have to turn down large gifts that allocate too much to programs without enough to cover administrative costs.

“The key is you don’t call it overhead,” said Eric Schwarz, chief executive of Citizen Schools, Boston, which enlists volunteers to teach kids in after-school programs. “Talk about metrics. Show that to get even better results and expand to reach more kids we need to invest in our team.”

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