STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

Dan Pallota turned the world of fundraising on its head with multi-day bike rides to raise money for AIDS research and group runs to raise money for breast cancer research.

But his endeavor, which raised millions for both causes and provided magical connections as like-minded people came together, came crashing down overnight, leaving his 350 employees out of work, when then-Fox News host Bill O'Reilly suggested to viewers that it was all a scam with way too much money going to overhead.

Sponsors took their money and ran; donations plummeted.

Sally Gillespie, executive director of The Spur Foundation, is trying to move the needle on philanthropy in the Wood River Valley.

Pallota watched as other groups like the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and the Wounded Warrior Project took similar hits, criticized by reporters who slammed them for spending too much on overhead without delving into the positive impacts overhead could have on raising donations and providing services.

And he decided to fire back. He told his side of the story in a TED Talk that became one of most viewed TED Talks of all time. He wrote a book called "Uncharitable." And this week a couple hundred Wood River Valley residents watched “Uncharitable,” the movie based on that book, at The Argyros.

The screening and a panel that followed was sponsored by the Spur Community Foundation, which is  exploring various  philanthropic options while helping nonprofits become more effective.

In "Uncharitable," Pallota pointed out that the corporate world plays by a different set of rules than the nonprofit world. No one bats an eye when corporate leaders are paid six-figure salaries, nor do they mind when Coca Cola conducts huge marketing campaigns to sell its product. But they don't want to hear that it's going to cost to get a good director for a nonprofit or that nonprofits might leverage more donations with a well-produced advertising campaign.

Jenny Emery Davidson noted that Idaho is not all that big: "We could feed everyone. We could get every child to read."

They don't mind paying people who don't help people, but they hate seeing people who help people make money, Pallota said.

Amazon went six years without returning profits to investors as it built its business, but nonprofits are not allowed to go any amount of time without producing results, Similarly, risk taking is discouraged, Pallota said.

"Don't worry about the scale of overhead; ask about the scale of the dreams," he said. "Is it better to have a low overhead with low results or a higher overhead with much success?"

Sally Gillespie, executive director of Spur Foundation, likened what he had said to wanting someone to put out a fire but not paying anyone to do it or furnishing the hose to do it with.

Brooke Pace McKenna said the staff at The Hunger Coalition wanted the audience to know that “restriction kills innovation.”

Jenny Emery Davidson's Community Library has taken on a lot of risks in the last few years, with a massive remodeling of the Ketchum library, assuming the management of the Ernest and Mary Hemingway House and starting up a Writer-in-Residence program allowing novelists, poets, playwrights, musicians and dancers to stay at the house. The library also approved an ambitious project moving the former Ski and History Museum from rather dilapidated quarters in Forest Service Park to a new building cattycorner from the library. The museum boasts new reimagined exhibits and has attracted 20,000 people in its first year--way more than the less visible building in Forest Service Park.

"Lyman Drake handed us a book, "Expect More," and created an environment in which we could think expansively," said Davidson, the library's executive director. "And, when we saw that the community was willing to take pens and write on the temporary walls while construction was being done, we learned that this is a community that accommodates messiness. knowing that they're going to get to something bigger."

Brooke Pace McKenna, co-leader of The Hunger Coalition, said her organization took a risk when it decided to go beyond simply providing food to those who are food insecure to addressing the root causes of that food insecurity.

"Helping families overcome poverty doesn't help overnight and we lost some people along the way who didn't understand what we were doing, and that's okay,” she said. “We're so grateful for those who have come along with us on the journey.”

Melissa Mathewscame from a nonprofit background before assuming directorship of The Argyros.

There was a time, she added that the organization hid staff compensation in places like "programming services" to avoid the perception that it had too much overhead. But the organization became emboldened. Now, 75 percent of its overhead goes to staff.

"And that's how it should be for this organization," she said, noting that the bigger campus and record numbers of families clamoring for food and other services necessitates more staff.

Jennifer Wells Green, executive director of the Sun Valley Museum of Art, described how her organization is sending staff into classrooms to show math, science, geology and English teachers how to integrate art into their curriculum.

"It takes staff and transportation to do that," she said, adding that the museum also is fine tuning the list of endeavors it's involved in.

"For a time, the museum was doing more and more, trying to be all things to all people...We're going to commit ourselves to being an art museum, although that doesn't mean we don't do other projects from time to time."

Melissa Mathews, executive director of The Argyros, said the performing arts center recently has started taking a risk by establishing a relationship with corporate donors.

"We're all after you all the time. How do we finetune our act?" she added, turning to the audience.

Davidson turned to the audience: "What I find compelling is the potential amplification of work here."

The Spur Foundation plans to address early learning and child care in November. The organization will host a public meeting exploring the realities of immigrants in January.