Meet Debra Snider, Panelist at the April 24th Giving Under The Influence Symposium

Apr 1, 2014 12:45 PM ET

Register Now: www.charities.org/guti

On April 24th, America's Charities is hosting Giving Under The Influence, a symposium focused on key trends, solutions, and strategies shaping the future of employee engagement and workplace giving. In this series of posts, we’ll introduce you to the panelists who will lead the Giving Under The Influence Symposium discussion.

Meet Panelist: Debra Snider

Debra Snider is Vice President of Operations for GuideStar, a 501(c)(3) public charity whose mission it is to provide nonprofit information that advances transparency, enables individuals and organizations to make better decisions, and encourages charitable giving. Responsible for D.C. and Williamsburg facilities management, Debra oversees all administrative activities, human resources, internal communications, and project coordination at GuideStar. With over 30 years of experience in the communications field, Debra has worked for Gannett, Inc., a number of catalog companies and public relations firms, served as an elected school board member in upstate New York and was a board member of Camp Chin Gu, a camp for Korean adoptees.

Among the topics to be discussed at the Giving Under The Influence Symposium, is a movement called the 'Overhead Myth'.  America’s Charities recently asked Debra why the overhead myth is important to companies, and this was her response: 

“Evaluating a charity based on one ratio (overhead) has always been a flawed model since it doesn’t answer the real question – what IMPACT is my money having on the ability for an organization to carry out its mission?  The Overhead Myth campaign gives companies an opportunity to re-educate the public (its employees) that administrative and fundraising costs are NOT the two most important data points to consider when giving.  And, in fact, focusing on only overhead without considering other critical dimensions of a charity’s performance - like transparency, governance, leadership and results – does more harm than good. If a company’s goal is to funnel more money to high-performing nonprofits, then helping to dispell this myth will get them there faster.”

On April 24, Debra Snider and other experts will discuss the overhead myth, and examine the connection between corporate giving, employee engagement and investing in charitable performance and impact from the perspective of charities.  Additionally, America’s Charities will release its latest research - Snapshot 2014 - giving event attendees exclusive insights around the best ways for companies and their employees to engage with charities and have the most impact.

Click here to register for Giving Under The Influence 2014 and learn more about the other panelists.