Guest Post: Charities Need to Increase Overheads

Mar 22, 2013 7:10 PM ET

By David Connor

Dan Pallotta: The way we think about charity is wrong

If you work in social enterprise or a charitable organisation make sure you find 18 minutes and 55 seconds to watch the video below.

I’ve seen the link to this video enthusiastically being bounced around the social media world for a few days and I finally managed to squeeze in a watch over lunch today.

I’ll let Dan do the talking first and add a few thoughts after you’ve heard what he has to say…

Click here to watch the video>>

He’s absolutely on the money and he knows what he’s talking about. Too many in the social world are too disconnected from the strengths of the private sector.

I also understand that even given an acceptance of his ethos the next massive barrier is the delivery quality of this more aggressive approach to fundraising and marketing. Increased overheads can only be justified by operational results, and social impact over any agreed time period.

The big challenge is to encourage a significantly stronger entrepreneurial approach to social impact and mitigate the unease created by the increased blurring of the boundaries between private sector methodologies and social sector aspirations.

What will the Amazon of the social impact world look like?

Check out Dan Pallota’s webpage / Twitter profile @DanPallota for more information

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David Connor is the Managing Director for 3BL Media in Europe. He has over 13 years experience in the CSR agenda and is also the Managing Director of Coethica, a UK based CSR consultancy with particular expertise in engaging small businesses. Prior to Coethica, David was responsible for the multi-award winning Community Programme at Everton Football Club and also managed the England Amputee Football Team. He has been involved at Board level for numerous non-profit organisations supporting regeneration, youth sport, affordable housing, retail, financial services and small business support. Away from CSR, David entertains his wife and son, goes out running, biking, playing golf or is escaping into films, with skydiving next on his to do list.

This post originally appeared on the David Coethica's Blog. Posted with permission of the author