Bragging About Program-to-Admin Ratios Is a Destructive Practice that Needs to Die

I know that many of us have sent out our year-end appeal letter, or are in the process of doing so. Some of us are pouring our blood, sweat and tears into these letters, sometimes literally, with the paper cuts and the occasional weeping over the hundreds or thousands of letters that need to be stuffed.

You know what makes me weep, though? Y’all who still use language in your letters like “94 cents of every dollar goes directly to programs!” Every time I see it or hear about it, it is like getting a barbed-wire-wrapped baseball bat directly to the noggin.