The word dross has appeared in nine New York Times articles in the past year, including on March 30 in the op-ed article “Why Fund-Raising Is Fun” by Arthur C. Brooks:

To their disappointment, I told them that today, soliciting donations is often the single biggest part of a nonprofit leader's job. For example, I lead a research institution in Washington. Private philanthropy makes up our entire budget, so I travel every week, and the majority of my time is spent fund-raising.

...In this role, I have found that the real magic of fund-raising goes even deeper than temporary happiness or extra income. It creates meaning. Donors possess two disconnected commodities: material wealth and sincere convictions. Alone, these commodities are difficult to combine. But fund-raisers facilitate an alchemy of virtue: They empower those with financial resources to convert the dross of their money into the gold of a better society.