Posted By Sidney on February 16, 2009

I have devoted the last 18 years of my career to a sector that  is defined by what it is “not” and what it does “not” do.  Nonprofits as defined in Wikipedia encompasses any organization that does “not” aim to make a profit and which is “not” a public body.  Lest I place too much importance on “WWS” (what Wikipedia says), Merriam-Webster defines  the sector as organizations that are not conducted or maintained for the purpose of making a profit.  You can probably tell that this is going to be a pet-peeve-post and I am certain that I am not the first to be annoyed by this.  I don’t create many (posts like this) but I believe that the sector is at a pivotal moment in our history as we face: the greatest economic recession since we began to think of ourselves “as a sector” in the 1970s; and increased scrutiny from the the Internal Revenue Service, the nonprofit-watchdog-du jour, and the public.

If we should not be defined by what we are “not”, then what the hell are we?  The Wikipedia definition continues with:

“Whereas for-profit corporations exist to earn and distribute taxable business earnings to shareholders, the nonprofit corporation exists solely to provide programs and services that are of public benefit.”

Hmmm… we exist solely to provide programs and services that are for public “benefit.” Could we be re-branded as the For-benefit sector? What about the For-charity sector? Or, the social sector? Would people think that we are only about socializing and networking and not improving our world community? What about the social change or improvement sector?  I love the word “change”, yet I do not believe this label would work.  What do you think? What should we be “for”?

Categories: Commentary
Tags: community, nonprofit, nonprofit sector, Re-branding, social sector, Wikipedia