Americans have a misperception of fundraising overhead costs.

By Pamela Barden

But clearly, donors aren’t reading our information closely enough to get the message. While many nonprofits spend 10, 15 or 20 cents of every dollar on overhead, this fact just isn’t being heard. So for the next four-and-a-half weeks, we have to work even harder to get the word out.

Whispering isn’t working; shout it out
Many e-mails tout great overhead rates but confine this information to the footer. And when was the last time you really read the footer of an e-mail? I know some of you do, but in this age of scanning instead of reading, it’s the big and bold messages that get read.