Why Social-Profit?

/

Q:  What do community non-profits, global NGOs, public Institutions,  and social-enterprise have in common? 

A:  They have all been created to achieve a public good.   

Unlike our for-profit business cousins that are designed to make as much financial-profit for their shareholders as possible, these organizations are created to achieve as much social-profit for the public as they possibly can.  

By changing our language from the deeply entrenched, ambiguous notion of "non-profit" to the more positively (and accountably) framed concept of "social-profit," we can begin to better apprehend and re-design our efforts based on WHO WE ARE, and what we INTEND TO ACHIEVE (and evaluate), rather than on who we are not, and what is not our bottom-line.

Think about it.   For-profit & Social-profit organizations have:

  • Different Purposes
  • Different Beneficiaries
  • Different Bottom Lines 
  • Different Organization Structures
  • Different Leadership Paradigms
  • Different Reliance on Volunteers  
  • Different Board & CEO Relationships
  • Different Partner Expectations
  • Different Funding Challenges

So why in the world do we continue to try to model our social-profit organizations on a for-profit business model and call them non-profits?

To get away from the habit of "one size fits all," I've found that changing our language based on intention, and paying attention to the fresh questions and ideas that spring to life when we do, is a great place to start.  Help move the conversation -- and the new design ideas -- along. See what happens when you shift your thinking from Non-Profit to Social-Profit!