The way that our society thinks about the Non-profit sector is all wrong. In a world where everything in the business world is measured in terms of return on investment (ROI) how can you monetize the gratefulness a single battered mother when she gets a roof over her head, how can you monetize the happiness a disabled child that gets to spend a day at the water-park, or how can you monetize the appreciation a family has for having a dinner provided on thanksgiving? Dan Pollata an activist and fundraiser gave a TED talk earlier this year on exactly this topic. He tried to help the average person understand how difficult it can be to work in a non-profit.
The Dan Pallotta TED talk already has over 2.5 million views and it really helped me understand the non-profit sector in a way that I had never before. The part of TED talk that most resonated with me the most was his comparisons between the two sectors. The difference between the profit and non-profit sector are unfathomable. A Stanford Grad with a masters made $400,000 while the CEO of a hunger charity made $84,000. While our society encourages to strive to move up through the ranks of a perspective company there is absolutely no incentive for these non-profit people. If a CEO in the hunger charity made $400,000 he/she would be crucified by the media and our society because he/she was dipping to much into charitable funds. Pallotta lays our the 4 main differences between profits and non-profits and I encourage you to check it out. It really made me think twice about the type of challenges that a non-profit has to deal with.
Check it out yourself! Here's a link the link to Dan Pallotta's TED talk:
http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pallotta_the_way_we_think_about_charity_is_dead_wrong.html
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