Profit vs. Non-Profit
David Boyd has this from Walter Williams:
One of the wonderful things about free markets is that the path to
greater wealth comes not from looting, plundering and enslaving one's
fellow man, as it has throughout most of human history, but by serving
and pleasing him. Many of the wonderful achievements of the 20th
century were the result of the pursuit of profits. Unfortunately,
demagoguery has led to profits becoming a dirty word. Nonprofit is seen
as more righteous, particularly when people pompously stand before us
and declare, "We're a nonprofit organization."
Profit is cast in a poor light because people don't understand the role
of profits. Profit is a payment to entrepreneurs just as wages are
payments to labor, interest to capital and rent to land. In order to
earn profits in free markets, entrepreneurs must identify and satisfy
human wants in a way that economizes on society's scarce resources.
As you may know I do most of my work with non-profits and here is what I can tell you about them: the good ones behave just like well-run, for-profit companies. If they think of themselves as existing for a "higher purpose" and justify their existence in that light then they are doomed. If, on the other hand, they view their members or constituents as customers and view their existence as serving those customers then they are most likely going to succeed.
