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In 2013, I joined with partners at theÌýÌý²¹²Ô»åÌýÌýin writing an open letter to the donors of ¾«¶«Ó°Òµ explaining that “overhead ratios” are a poor way to understand nonprofit performance. We named this campaign “.”

I’m glad to report that the response to the campaign, including the originalÌýÌýto the donors of ¾«¶«Ó°Òµ, far exceeded our expectations. More than one hundred articles have been written about the campaign. It comes up every time I hold a meeting or give a talk. For many in the field, it’s been a deep affirmation of something they’ve long known. And, indeed, many leading organizationsÌý— theÌý,Ìý, theÌý, and othersÌý— have been working on the issue for years.Ìý

But we also know we have a long road ahead of us. The myth of overhead as inherently “wasteful” spending is deeply ingrained in the culture and systems of the nonprofit sector, and it will take years of concerted effort for us to move past such a narrow view of nonprofit performance to something that fully reflects the complexity of the world around us. That effort is essential, however, if we want to ensure that we have a nonprofit sector capable of tackling the great challenges of our time.Ìý

That’s why last week the CEOs of Charity Navigator and the BBB Wise Giving Alliance and I released aÌýÌý— this one addressed to the nonprofits of ¾«¶«Ó°Òµ. In that letter, we suggest a set of steps nonprofits themselves can take to help dispel the Overhead Myth. We all share responsibility for allowing things to have reached this pass. And it will take all of us to fix it.