For my last post; I want to answer a question I had during week one. Then I want to reflect on what I have learned and talk about the nonprofit sector. My question: “Why do business’s gravitate to the nonprofit sector?”
First – Business’s are started in the nonprofit sector because they are commenced from the heart. People usually want to change something in the world. This area of work is not a capital success. The nonprofit sector dominates in areas that the government does not cover. That doesn’t mean nonprofits are just in huge areas like health care, social services, education, ect. There are nonprofits for animals; example: if someone wants to start a nonprofit to save stray cats that need a home, then someone can start a nonprofit that saves stray cats. Why would they make it a nonprofit? Good question! Well the cat saving nonprofit started because of the persons intention (which came from the heart, not the head), and a nonprofit it tax free. Another part of being a nonprofit is the capital. Nonprofits aren’t propelled by making capital for themselves. Nonprofits will accept money to reach their mission goal, but not to thrive on receiving money for personal benefits. Now I want to talk about businesses in capitalism and how some are for the heart and not entirely for profit.
The reason I want to talk about businesses in the capital system; because I felt that in class the majority of people were accelerating with the nonprofit idea, but didn’t understand the business aspect of reality. The stereotype that was talked about in class was that businesses use their head and not their heart. Well I think differently about that stereotype. My thought of working in life is that I want to do something that I love doing. That is the benefit of being in a capital system people. If I cant find a job doing something I love, than I will create one. Simple idea, but hard to do in reality. There are many businesses that have a good heart; they are never heard of due to the negative impact of capitalism and humans. My parents wanted to grow a great cherry, a cherry that is huge, full of flavor, and taste good. The average cherry on the market is the size of a quarter, red and sour! So my parents wanted to start a new path in life for cherries. The big question was how are we gonna do this and support our family (6 people). Today we grow the best cherry in the North West, because it is sweet, big, crunchy, and they look amazing (this opinion is mine). We as a family business do our best to go by good morals and not let the capital system overcome our family. There are many other examples of businesses doing well for the world. I end on reminding people to keep an open view in life, and don’t listen to everything you hear, find out for yourself.
I’m happy to see you returning to your original question with your final post, Tony. I often struggle with the “heart and head” line – it rolls off the tongue but you’ve offered some excellent evidence of how business – or any work for that matter – can be a labor of love. Nonprofits don’t have monopoly on that market, so to speak. If you take PPPM 480, the business of nonprofit management takes main stage: strategic planning, profitability, efficient use of resources, and marketing to name a few topics. Thanks for your posts and your participation throughout the term!