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Wednesday, January 17, 2018

Why can't non-profits run a profitable business?

Only 10% of this non-profit's revenue comes from work they actually do.

So, here's a thought on the non-profit world: Why can't social entrepreneurships develop profit making businesses? Or, more plainly, why can't they get society to support them if they are indeed 'socially relevant'?

If they have a valid offer, people would be willing to pay for that, even poor people.

Kickstart, an NGO in Africa, found that selling, at a very low cost, water pumps to farmers, produced a 'responsibility' amongst citizens to not only care for their work, but their equipment - instead of just giving them another free one when the old one broke.

The chart below shows a non-profit arts organization that only makes 10% in actual revenue. So where do their operating expenses come from?

They come from donors, who get a tax deduction for doing something charitable - so that's just largesse - the corporate world throwing off a little (See: Nobel Peace price founded by dynamite maker).

With iThinkOutside MyBox I want to do the exact opposite - to develop a social concern that supports itself, and holds it's own value in the view of the participants.

At #iTOMB we are 100% contributor supported. No grants. No government support. No outside control. And I think that makes us a true community engagement - because the ‘community' takes charge. Not the corporations.

What do you think?