"We are too focused on our own navel and our own moral purity"

Finance | Tania Mason | 17 Nov 2009

If you missed US fundraiser and author Dan Pallotta expound his revolutionary ideas about the future of charities at Charity Finance Live last month, you can now catch him here in a short film by Civil Society’s very own video jockey, Alex Goddard.

For those who haven’t yet heard Pallotta’s theories, you soon will. He ran a hugely successful fundraising business in the States which raised hundreds of millions of dollars for charity, until a massive backlash against its for-profit status put it out of business. Since then he has been examining our fundamental canons about charity and come to some controversial conclusions. He firmly believes that charities should be able to use the same tools as the capitalist system, such as paying top salaries to attract the best talent, investing large sums in advertising, and even selling shares to raise capital. The current preoccupation with overheads, Pallotta claims, is stupid and immoral.

“We are focused on our own navel and our own moral purity,” he told delegates at Charity Finance Live. “To be concerned about whether or not we corrupt ourselves yet not concerned about whether we are solving the problem is the ultimate corruption.”

Who's Who: Dan Pallotta

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