I understand the need, as my closest friend is a development officer for our local hospital. I could never do what she does. She doesn't actually ask for the $, she has to shmooze people, plan events, and deal with the volunteers who work at her events. In other words, she has to be nice to people she doesn't necessarily like, to, in the end, get money.
I work for a non profit, so I understand. The one I work for, at least treats the professional staff fairly well. When I went on interviews last year, I couldn't believe the lack of, well, decency, in some of the attitudes I encountered from clinical directors, all because as some told me, "we are non profit, we have no money." And coming from public education, this was an eye opener. I thought schools were bad.