Over the past week, two seemingly unrelated topics have flooded my social media feeds: 1) March Madness and 2) debunking “the overhead myth.” There’s little overlap in the Venn diagram of these two topics, though seeing them both got me thinking….

My initial reaction was, “Why do we still need to defend nonprofit organizations spending money on the infrastructure they need to thrive?” I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard funders say, “But do they really need someone to do that job?” or “We don’t want to pay for communications staff or a website, they aren't part of the program.” This got me thinking about what staffing looks like outside of the sector, so just for kicks, I looked at the team pages of the four top seeds in the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament (University of Connecticut, Purdue University, University of Houston, and University of North Carolina) to see what kind of “overhead” they have.

For readers who aren’t sports-inclined, a basketball team has 5 players on the court at any one time. That’s right, five (they have many more players, but the game itself is only ever played by five people at once.) So how many staff could these teams possibly have? Here’s what I found:

-UConn: 10 (4 coaching staff, 6 support staff)
-Purdue: 10 (4 coaches, though undifferentiated on their website)
-Houston: 15 (4 coaching staff, 11 support staff)
-UNC: 15 (4 coaching staff, 11 support staff)

These numbers don’t include student managers, graduate assistants, interns, or the many other university staff who indirectly support the team. To be clear, this isn’t a criticism, but an observation about the resources and specialized skills it takes to promote, develop, and support a high-functioning team of FIVE PEOPLE. It’s a lot more than the “program” we see on the court – multiple coaches, operations staff, trainers, graphic designers, and videographers – each ensuring the team is optimally equipped for success. Yet somehow, we question whether a nonprofit that serves thousands of people needs fundraising staff, or whether a high school "really" needs another academic advisor. It’s time to recognize that “overhead” isn’t “overhead” – it’s essential capacity. We accept and expect it from the teams we support on the court, but question it among organizations doing life-changing work. That’s what I call Madness!!!