The way we think about charity is dead wrong
5,402,554 views | Dan Pallotta • TED2013
Activist and fundraiser Dan Pallotta calls out the double standard that drives our broken relationship to charities. Too many nonprofits, he says, are rewarded for how little they spend -- not for what they get done. Instead of equating frugality with morality, he asks us to start rewarding charities for their big goals and big accomplishments (even if that comes with big expenses). In this bold talk, he says: Let's change the way we think about changing the world.
Activist and fundraiser Dan Pallotta calls out the double standard that drives our broken relationship to charities. Too many nonprofits, he says, are rewarded for how little they spend -- not for what they get done. Instead of equating frugality with morality, he asks us to start rewarding charities for their big goals and big accomplishments (even if that comes with big expenses). In this bold talk, he says: Let's change the way we think about changing the world.
This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.
About the speaker
Dan Pallotta is on a focused mission to change the way the donating public thinks about giving.
Dan Pallotta | Wall Street Journal, September 14, 2012 | Article
Why Can't We Sell Charity Like We Sell Perfume?
A written summary of the ideas in my TED Talk.
Dan Pallotta | Harvard Business Review, September 28, 2011 | Article
You Should Be Able to Get Rich in Charity
We have to stop treating money as a sin in social change work. If more value will be produced with more financial incentive, then we should continue to provide financial incentive up to the point where it no longer produces value. Whether or not a person is getting wealthy is immaterial. All that matters is whether the organization is getting good value for that money.
Dan Pallotta | Harvard Business Review, February 17, 2012 | Article
Multiplication Philanthropy
We have a deficient conception of leverage. The real leverage in philanthropy doesn’t stop with finding the most impactful organization. The real leverage is in funding the growth of the most impactful organization.
Dan Pallotta | Harvard Business Review, September 5, 2012 | Article
An Apollo Program for American Philanthropy and the Nonprofit Sector
The conventional wisdom has been that the public wants charities with low salaries and low overhead, so, like it or not, that’s the reality within which we have to live and operate. But the public once wanted slavery and women to be without the right to vote. What if we changed what the public wants? Here’s a blueprint for doing just that.
Dan Pallotta | Harvard Business Review, January 15, 2013 | Article
Business Can't Solve the World's Problems — But Capitalism Can
If we would liberate the humanitarian sector to use the tools of capitalism, it could compete with the for-profit sector for mind and market share. It could really grow, and it could start to solve some of our most entrenched problems. Fight capitalism with capitalism.
Bill Shore, et al. | Stanford Social Innovation Review, Fall 2013 | Article
When Good is Not Good Enough
Leaders of two of the most successful nonprofit organizations argue that the sector needs to shift its attention from modest goals that provide short-term relief to bold goals that, while harder to achieve, provide long-term solutions by tackling the root of social problems.
Carl Schramm | Stanford Social Innovation Review, Spring 2010 | Article
All Entrepreneurship is Social
A great piece on the dangers of overlooking the contributions that business entrepreneurs make to society.
George Overholser and Sean Stannard-Stockton | Tactical Philanthropy, January 21, 2009 | Article
Philanthropic Equity
A great summary of the difference between buying something in social change and building something, and on changes to the way we think about accounting that could capitalize and catalyze the growth of our best organizations.
Learn more
This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.