[mattferderer]

This needs to be said more often! Having worked at & with many non-profits, if you don't have competitive wages your top talent keeps leaving. That crushes small non-profits because top talent wear multiple hats & are very difficult to replace. Anyone who has had to replace talent knows the pain of having to hire & then get a new person up to speed.

As for marketing, spending lots of money on marketing isn't bad as long as it's working.

People need to quit judging non-profits just by looking at 2 numbers without understanding the entire scope. This is a huge issue for non-profits.

I know of non-profits that have been forced to setup multiple entities. One for "public" where they can say 100% of donations go to the cause & one for people who understand running a business where they can get private donations that help pay people salaries, building expenses & everything else.