How Much Should a Charity Spend on Overhead and Administrative Expenses?

    More in Giving 101:
  1. What Is Involved in Joining a Nonprofit's Board of Directors?
  2. How Can I Donate My Used Books?
  3. Charitable Giving in Kind: How to Donate without Spending a Dime
  4. Avoiding Unwanted Solicitations: Five Ways to Stop Charity Spam
  5. How Is the Economic Recession Affecting Charities?
    6. See All 27 Questions...

When deciding where to donate your money, one factor to consider is how much of the contributions are donated directly to the charitable program, as opposed to funds that are used for advertising, paying staff, soliciting donors, purchasing supplies, and other administrative expenses. On average, the best charities spend no more than 15 to 20 percent on overhead and administrative costs, while some of the least effective budget as much as 77 percent of funds for non-program related costs.

If you’d like to see where your favorite charity falls in line, run a search on Razoo to find out if it’s listed in our database—if so, it may have an organizational efficiency rating from Charity Navigator, along with details on the CEO’s salary. While viewing these details, make sure to compare the specific figures to the organization’s overall budget—so, while a $200,000 CEO salary may seem exorbitant for a charity with an overall budget of $2 million, the same salary could be considered perfectly appropriate for a charity with a $100 million budget. Raise money for your favorite charity and other charities.