Non-Profit vs Profit

I'm Back! I'm not really sorry it's taken so long (now I'm sorry I'm not sorry) Guilt is a wily beast.

Ok, so I'm obsessed about this opportunity to help this non-profit organization transition to the next level of development. Much like some of my consulting clients this organization has organically developed and is now kind of on a hamster wheel making it happen, led by a fantastic all volunteer board (so, no real leadership). Anyway, I'll go into more about the organization later. My penchant to write today was initiated by a frustration that one, very influential, board member is stuck on the idea that the person that does this work must have non-profit leadership experience. I mean, really!? As an entrepreneur/make-it-happen problem solver it seems that a lot of non-profit experience could be a bad thing. (ie, career politician)

Mission based is good but it's not limited to non-profit! Many so called for-profit companies operate mission based too. I do. My firm has a mission to support our clients and if we do a good job then we expect to get a reasonable compensation. Wow! Seems like the 'right' way to do business, huh?! Profit NEVER comes into play with our fees. Although we do help our client's with their profits (And How!).

Take a look at these links. There is no operational difference in leading or running a non-profit vs for-profit. Each needs money to support it's initiatives and mission. Each operates to provide some kind of value (in product or service). And if a non-profit operates at break-even every year...that's a problem!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_6Te-Q2tMc
http://chuck.hubpages.com/hub/For-Profit-vs-Non-Profit-Form-of-Business
http://nonprofit.about.com/od/qathebasics/f/nopvspro.htm
http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2009/10/30/the-shrinking-gap-between-nonprofit-and-for-profit/