Money Can’t Buy You Love: The Problem with Non-Profits

The saddest thing to me about non-profit organizations is that so many have the classic victim mentality. Of course, not the big successful, national ones, but this attitude is pretty common in smaller, local groups. Many don’t get beyond “startup” mode because of it.

When most people think of non-profit, they think of stuff that’s free, stuff that’s really discounted, or stuff for a very good cause. But I guess they don’t really think of the rest of it: that somehow everyone thinks good cause is reward enough. Money is something else again. There’s never enough money to make these organizations happen – for many, even on a survival level.

But I think the reason why so many non-profits fail, is because they focus on what they lack and are unaware of what they do in fact already have. They consider themselves victims of society, always on the other side of a handout. This point of view is entirely disempowering and it mostly keeps the organization in a nasty psychological loop, sometimes for decades.

Sure, you say “But non-profits don’t HAVE anything except the desire to help people (or feed them, etc etc)” They certainly don’t have money! Many non-profits are in “just squeaking by” mode so they never feel like they have much in the way of valuable assets.

But actually, the non-profit has an asset it seems to take for granted: the love, devotion, actions and commitment of its core group of people. Not just a Board of Directors, this means the person who gets the mail, or counts the money, or who will take an extra subway ride to deliver that package after work. If someone does this as a volunteer, or even as a terribly underpaid professional, their affection or commitment to this “cause” is probably priceless but it will commonly go unacknowledged and ignored.  Priceless sounds kind of dramatic, but it might be true.

If non-profits don’t begin to see abundance and “prosperity” in the talents and devotion of their own people – those unknown (or even maybe not so unknown) souls who are opening the doors in the morning, or locking the door at night –  non-profits will remain undervalued and under appreciated in society as well. The micro, after all, reflects the macro. If non-profits are under-appreciated by society, maybe it’s a reflection of their own lack of “internal” appreciation, starting with the folks inside the group who contribute their hearts and minds and make things happen. Money may not be able to buy you much of anything these days, but devotion and commitment are hard to come by at any price. Value the invisible assets you have and you will attract “real” ones.