The Portfolio Approach
for Managing Donations

In order to maximize the impact of donations, SHARED has created portfolios of projects to receive funding and other support from the organization. Through this approach, we strive to decrease our administrative costs while making more money available to the people we serve, giving your donation a bigger impact.

Here's how it works.

An Innovative Approach to Delivering our Services:

Non-profit organizations struggle to keep down the administrative costs to permit the maximum amount of donated dollars to be spent on programs rather than overhead. According to the National Center for Charitable Statistics, "the percentage of total expenses going to program costs is the most common measure of nonprofit organizational efficiency. Focus group research has found that donors expect worthy organizations to have low fundraising and administrative costs." It is generally accepted that combined fundraising and administrative costs constitute no more than 25 percent of the organizations' total revenues.

In order to reduce our overhead costs, SHARED asks its donors to support portfolios of programs rather than individual projects. For example, we have assembled a number of projects in different portfolios. In our "Determine the Future" portfolio, we have identified partner organizations in southern Africa that are doing excellent work for orphans and abandoned children but could do much more to feed and provide access to medical care if they had additional financial support. Our "Building a Healthy Armenia" portfolio allows us to direct funding to assist with physician training, identifying patients' attitudes that impact doctors' choices, or purchasing medicines.

Working closely with overseas organizations, SHARED raises funds for the portfolios of projects and then transfers funds to individual projects once financial goals are met. This flexibility allows us to react to the changing needs of these overseas partner organizations while reducing our administrative costs. More of the money we raise goes to creating change in the lives of the people we want to help.

An Opportunity for You to Improve Access to Medicines:

If you are an individual looking to invest your donation dollars wisely, our innovative approach to portfolio funding presents unique opportunities to make a difference in the lives of some of the world's poorest people. Working together, we can get more medicines to those people in need.

1. Website for National Center for Charitable Statistics, http://nccsdataweb.urban.org/FAQ/index.php?category=40, accessed 11/11/04.