Home » Articles on Demand » Filthy Rich and Other Nonprofit Fantasies: Changing the Way You Do Business




Filthy Rich and Other Nonprofit Fantasies: Changing the Way You Do Business

by Dr. Richard Steckel
January/February 1990
Access over 3,000 practical Exchange articles written by the top experts in the field through our online database. Join Today!

Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/filthy-rich-and-other-nonprofit-fantasies-changing-the-way-you-do-business/5007111/

This is the first of two articles about changing your nonprofit organization from a poor, grant-dependent, sand-kicked-in-your-face operation into one that is muscular and self-reliant. It is about paying your own way with earned income ventures, and about using those ventures to improve the delivery of your mission.

This is also about changing the skinny way you think. For too long, nonprofits have been bound by assumptions that limit their effectiveness. No more. A new class of nonprofits has developed, with muscular attitudes and behaviors borrowed from the private sector. The private sector provides some excellent role models; just because they're brawny doesn't mean they're bad guys. So let's throw out your tacit tongue tssks right now.

The End at the Beginning

Unfortunately, that's also where fantasy ends for most nonprofits: at the beginning. Missions are sparked and sculpted from fantasy, but when it comes to the politic and business of carrying out those missions, nonprofits have traditionally floundered; they can't produce results the way the private sector does; they be-come traditionalists; they become
the Invisible Sector. Irritating, isn't it?

There are a bunch of traditional assumptions you've been lugging around, assumptions about how nonprofits operate:

_ ...

Want to finish reading Filthy Rich and Other Nonprofit Fantasies: Changing the Way You Do Business?

You have access to 5 free articles.
or an account to access full article.