Our generation does not want its epitaph to read, 'We kept charity overhead low.' We want it to read that we changed the world.
Dan PallottaRead
When you prohibit failure, you kill innovation. If you kill innovation in fundraising, you can't raise more revenue. If you can't raise more revenue, you can't grow. And if you can't grow, you can't possibly solve large social problems.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Prohibiting failure stifles creativity and prevents growth, which is essential for solving significant social issues.
Dan Pallotta's quote emphasizes the crucial link between failure, innovation, and growth in fundraising efforts. By highlighting that the fear of failure can hinder innovative approaches, he argues that without the capacity to innovate, organizations will struggle to raise necessary funds, ultimately inhibiting their ability to address and solve larger societal challenges.
Themes
FailureInnovationGrowthFundraisingSocial Problems
In practice
Example use cases
In a presentation about nonprofit strategies, this quote illustrates the importance of embracing risk for greater impact.
More from Dan Pallotta
All quotes →We aren't upset when Paramount makes a $200 million movie that flops, but if a charity experiments with a $5 million fundraising event that fails, we call in the attorneys. So charities are petrified of trying bold new revenue-generating endeavors and can't develop the powerful learning curves the for-profit sector can.
Dan PallottaRead
Similar quotes
We try not to have many investing 'rules,' but there is one that has served us well: If we decide we were wrong about something, in terms of why we did it, we exit, period.
David EinhornRead
Ever since I was younger I wanted to be on stage, singing my songs in a glittering costume. And that happened and is still happening. I have to remember that this is what I wished for and be grateful because there are 500 other girls right behind me that are ready to snatch it up.
Katy PerryRead
Nothing great will ever be achieved without great men, and men are great only if they are determined to be so.
Charles De GaulleRead
One of the major keys to success is to keep moving forward on the journey, making the best of the detours and interruptions, turning adversity into advantage.
John C. MaxwellRead
Approach each customer with the idea of helping him or her solve a problem or achieve a goal, not of selling a product or service.
Brian TracyRead
Don't count the people that you reach, reach the people who count
David OgilvyRead