search GO username password     password help remember me NCNE PROGRAMS: PUBLICATIONS CONFERENCES/SEMINARS TRAINING CONSULTING ENTER NCNE'S KNOWLEDGE BASE Economics of Nonprofits Planning by Nonprofits Measuring Performance and Impact Managing Risk Financial Management and Investment Strategies Financing Nonprofits Earned Income and Social Enterprise Understanding and Managing Costs Financing and Leveraging Capital Home » KNOWLEDGE BASE » Understanding and Managing Costs » Thinking and Comment View your account Thinking and Comment Task Force Report;Outsourcing This report examines the issue of whether nonprofits should choose to employ their own staff and/or house their own operations, or whether they should contract out tasks and activities. by Avner Ben-Ner Non Profit Times Column; Insights from the National Center on Nonprofit Enterprise In today's booming economy, we are accustomed to seeing reports of huge executive compensation packages. by Howard Tuckman Task Force Report; Compensation in Nonprofit Organizations Only when nonprofit managers are equipped with an understanding of the labor markets in which they operate and a strong self-awareness of the defining characteristics of their organizations, will they be able to design compensation packages that attract, retain, and motivate high quality employees. by Anne E. Preston Newsletter Editorial; The Complications of Accepting a Major Gift. Major donors often like to feel that they are leveraging other resources and are not alone in their support of a given project, even if they crave the credit. Newsletter Editorial; Five Ways of Managing Costs. The problem for nonprofits is that they have very limited resources with which to cope with these changes in market conditions. Lessons from the Sinking of the Vasa by Dennis R. Young Are Nonprofits Inefficient? Nonprofits are often assailed for operating inefficiently, compared with for-profit firms.    This paper argues that in fact nonprofits tend to spend too little on for example fundraising and strategic administrative functions by Arthur C. Brooks Book Review; Cost Containment in Higher Education; Issues and Recommendations Cost Containment in Higher Education by Walter Brown and Cayo Gamber focuses exclusively on higher education, but it is a nicely written publication that addresses a number of important generic economic issues common to nonprofit organizations virtually across the board. by Dennis R. Young, PhD Task Force Report; Fundraising Costs Although it is widely recognized that some expenditure of resources on fundraising is unavoidable, individual nonprofit organizations are often criticized for spending “too much” on fundraising compared with the delivery of actual services, or for mounting fundraising campaigns that are seen as dissipating “too large” a fraction of contributions received in the form of fundraising expenses.     by Joseph J. Cordes and Patrick M. Rooney