While most of us working in the non-profit world have been trained with the line of thinking that we need to be as frugal as possible in all areas of our organization, keeping overhead to 23% or less, there is another school of thought, which borrowing from the corporate world, says non-profits should spend more to make more.

In his book, Uncharitable, Dan Pallotta discusses the restraints of public expectations on non-profits and their spending. These often unrealistic expectations affect all aspects of non-profit organizations from trying to find ways to advertise with little or no marketing budget, to offering below average wages to organization employees. Even with limited spending, public expectation for professional collateral is equal to that of large corporations. So, how do non-profits keep up?