Our generation does not want its epitaph to read, 'We kept charity overhead low.' We want it to read that we changed the world.
Dan PallottaRead
We aren't upset when Paramount makes a $200 million movie that flops, but if a charity experiments with a $5 million fundraising event that fails, we call in the attorneys. So charities are petrified of trying bold new revenue-generating endeavors and can't develop the powerful learning curves the for-profit sector can.
Interpretation
What this quote means
People are more forgiving of failures in the for-profit world than in the non-profit sector.
This quote highlights the disparity in societal reactions to failures between for-profit businesses and charitable organizations. While large financial failures in entertainment like movies are often overlooked, non-profits face intense scrutiny and criticism for their failures, which stifles innovation and risk-taking in charity work. Dan Pallotta argues that this fear of failure in the charitable sector prevents organizations from experimenting and learning, thereby hindering their growth and impact.
Themes
CharityFailureInnovationFundraisingFor-ProfitRisk
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a conference about non-profit leadership to encourage bold initiatives.
More from Dan Pallotta
All quotes →When you prohibit failure, you kill innovation. If you kill innovation in fundraising, you can't raise more revenue. If you can't raise more revenue, you can't grow. And if you can't grow, you can't possibly solve large social problems.
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