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There is something quite powerful about an outsider seeing one's strengths, just as there is something annoying about them pointing out weaknesses. Although I get frustrated when people in the nonprofit sector put themselves down and talk about how they need to be more like business, I do feel that they have the right to make such comparisons. However, when business people start telling nonprofits the same thing, even when I agree with the specifics, I find my hackles rising. Making millions doesn't mean you know anything about social change. Conversely, when someone like the insightful Paul Light, immersed as he is in civil society, explores the strengths of the nonprofit sector, I discount his ideas just a little, even though they are spot on. So imagine my utter delight when, finally, the tables turn and I read a smart, successful business entrepreneur point out the innate strengths of the nonprofit model, for any kind of enterprise.
Paul Graham runs Y-Combinator, a wonderful small-scale commercial incubator that I would love to replicate in the nonprofit world. He is also an excellent writer. In his most recent piece, entitled Be Good, he comes upon an insight that he sees as truly radical and likely to be radically true: The key to a successful business startup is to run it like a charity. He writes: "The thought of betting against benevolence is alarming in the same way as saying that something is technically impossible. You're just asking to be made a fool of, because these are such powerful forces."
He describes four basic sources of strengths of the nonprofit model, all of which derive from its innate authenticity: (1) Morale: If you feel like you are helping people and making a difference in the world, you will keep working under horrible odds and conditions. (2) Help: Being good makes other people want to help you. (3) Compass: If you are clear that you need to do what's best for your cause and the people you're helping, lots of very hard decisions will be a lot easier to make.
Posted: 4/22/08; 4:01:42 PM # |