A former NPR chief executive deconstructs what he characterizes as five false notions about charitable giving in a Washington Post opinion article.

Ken Stern, now CEO of Palisades Media Ventures and author of the forthcoming book With Charity for All: Why Charities Are Failing and a Better Way to Give, said donors often give based on poor information and myths about nonprofit groups—for example, that most charities serve the poor and needy or that low overhead necessarily connotes greater efficiency.