tax deductible

With all my commentary on the injustices committed by big corporations, and my own personal career trajectory from for-profit to nonprofit, it may appear that I think all nonprofit organizations are good and all for-profit companies are bad.

But to clarify, I don't think such a distinction can be made. I’d much rather work for In-N-Out Burger, who pays their employees benefits and good wages, and sources local fresh food, than be part of the National Sleep Foundation, whose heavy funding from pharmaceuticals appears to strongly influence their studies and campaigns.

In fact, nonprofits can be particularly susceptible to corruption and fraud. Just think about all the sex scandals involving priests, and adultery cases involving pastors. Because people are less suspicious of nonprofits, hiding under the guise of being "independent" and “doing good work”, it’s easy to get away with deceptive research studies, misleading marketing and unhelpful programs. Meanwhile, for-profits that take social responsibility seriously can be extremely beneficial to society.

Yet public for-profits are accountable to maximizing their shareholder wealth, making them susceptible to make profit-increasing decisions that may not be beneficial to their employees, customers or society at large. In contrast, nonprofits are held accountable to their funders to accomplish their mission.

The nonprofit vs. for-profit classification originated as a tax distinction. Do you really trust the federal government to determine what is "altruistic" and what is not? So if you work for a nonprofit, don’t think that you’re immune from the “evils of the corporate world”. And if you work for a for-profit, then I don’t think that should be an excuse not to consider corporate social responsibility.*



* I don’t really like that term very much. I don’t really know if it means anything anymore… but since it may still signify a hint of what I do want it to mean, I’ll use it, rather than ramble on and try to explain what I’m trying to say…..