What is a normal nonprofit overhead ratio?
Free, no login. Checks IRS recognition, deductibility, revocation history and filing recency.
The number, by sector
Overhead varies enormously by what an organization actually does. A food bank moving goods has a different cost structure from a research institute or an arts organization that must fundraise for every dollar. Comparing across sectors is meaningless; these are the medians within each.
| Sector | Organizations | Median program share |
| Public Safety Disaster Preparedness & Relief | 6,110 | 93.5% |
| Recreation & Sports | 15,036 | 93.0% |
| Food Agriculture & Nutrition | 3,968 | 90.8% |
| Animal-Related | 7,262 | 89.6% |
| International Foreign Affairs & National Security | 6,184 | 88.5% |
| Philanthropy Voluntarism & Grantmaking Foundations | 11,695 | 88.3% |
| Religion-Related | 14,156 | 87.9% |
| Housing & Shelter | 13,732 | 87.4% |
| Education | 37,717 | 86.4% |
| Human Services | 34,957 | 86.3% |
| Health Care | 16,826 | 85.2% |
| Public & Societal Benefit | 4,279 | 85.0% |
| Mental Health & Crisis Intervention | 6,294 | 84.9% |
| Youth Development | 7,212 | 84.8% |
| Employment | 3,573 | 84.4% |
| Crime & Legal-Related | 3,993 | 84.0% |
| Voluntary Health Associations & Medical Disciplines | 3,385 | 83.6% |
| Community Improvement & Capacity Building | 14,683 | 83.4% |
| Environment | 6,727 | 82.3% |
| Arts Culture & Humanities | 22,508 | 80.7% |
The number, by size
Size matters too, though less than people assume — and not in one direction. Very small and very large organizations both report higher program shares than mid-sized ones, which are often building the administrative capacity that growth requires.
| Annual revenue | Organizations | Median program share |
| under $500K | 171,060 | 87.7% |
| $500K–$2M | 87,973 | 84.3% |
| $2M–$10M | 49,140 | 84.0% |
| $10M–$50M | 19,189 | 85.3% |
| over $50M | 7,554 | 87.4% |
Why the ratio is the wrong question
In 2013 the three leading sources of nonprofit information — GuideStar, Charity Navigator and the BBB Wise Giving Alliance — jointly published an open letter to donors denouncing the overhead ratio as a measure of performance, and urging attention to transparency, governance, leadership and results instead.
The mechanism they were worried about is real. An organization can raise its program share by underpaying staff, skipping audits, deferring technology and not evaluating whether its work succeeds. That organization looks efficient and may be hollowing out. The pressure to report a low overhead number causes the behaviour it claims to detect.
A better question: how long could they survive?
If you want one financial number that actually predicts trouble, use reserves rather than overhead. The median organization holds 13.3 months of spending in net assets, but 19.1% hold less than three months. That thin margin is what turns a delayed grant payment into missed payroll.
And note that 38.4% of these organizations spent more than they took in during the year reported. A single-year deficit is ordinary — often a deliberate draw on a reserve or a multi-year grant being spent. A pattern is what matters.
How to check a specific organization
Search any nonprofit above. Where a full Form 990 is on file, the result shows its program share alongside the median for its own sector and size cohort, so you are comparing like with like rather than against a national average that describes nobody.