Whether your organization is a nonprofit, connected with a government agency, or privately owned, part of your discussions might center around the organization’s overhead percentage.

Utilities, facility maintenance, and infrastructure needs are often pulled into the conversation.

Two days ago in an historic move, the leaders of the country’s three top sources of information on nonprofits – GuideStar, Charity Navigator, and BBB Wise Giving Alliance – penned an open letter to the donors of America denouncing the “overhead ratio” as a valid indicator of nonprofit performance. 

You can read their letter and their campaign at http://www.overheadmyth.com/

If you have an overhead percentage that’s starving the organization, it could jeopardize the organization’s future. If you haven’t read the excellent article in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, “The Nonprofit Starvation Cycle,” I’d encourage you to do so.