I don’t think this argument works, unfortunately. (I know that in a separate post you said you were only wondering about/floating it.) The reason is that the amount that charities would spend on overhead, were it not for donor emphasis on this, isn’t in fact what “they consider optimal” for altruistic purposes, because they’re not only concerned with altruistic purposes. To put it another way, in your separate post you said that “charities are better judges of how their own resources should be allocated than is the public”. And it’s plausibly true they’re better judges of how to spend resources for altruistic purposes. But again, these aren’t their only purposes.
I’ve worked for many non-profits and in my experience most are primarily concerned with the self-interest of their employees, which the donating public isn’t. So in that respect the donating public makes better decisions.
Serving the self-interest of employees is where a lot of overhead spending goes, including through larger salaries than are justified by the good that those salaries do, among other things. Salaries are typically a large part of overhead. This connects to what Brian’s said. I agree with him that higher salaries are some evidence of the employees being less dedicated and more self-interested, all else being equal. Other factors are important too of course, including how much they focus on fun or prestigious work.
I don’t think this argument works, unfortunately. (I know that in a separate post you said you were only wondering about/floating it.) The reason is that the amount that charities would spend on overhead, were it not for donor emphasis on this, isn’t in fact what “they consider optimal” for altruistic purposes, because they’re not only concerned with altruistic purposes. To put it another way, in your separate post you said that “charities are better judges of how their own resources should be allocated than is the public”. And it’s plausibly true they’re better judges of how to spend resources for altruistic purposes. But again, these aren’t their only purposes.
I’ve worked for many non-profits and in my experience most are primarily concerned with the self-interest of their employees, which the donating public isn’t. So in that respect the donating public makes better decisions.
Serving the self-interest of employees is where a lot of overhead spending goes, including through larger salaries than are justified by the good that those salaries do, among other things. Salaries are typically a large part of overhead. This connects to what Brian’s said. I agree with him that higher salaries are some evidence of the employees being less dedicated and more self-interested, all else being equal. Other factors are important too of course, including how much they focus on fun or prestigious work.