Thoughts on Non-profits

Nonprofit organizations’ sole intentions are to benefit the general public, but there are downsides to this virtuous behavior. Should nonprofits have ways to become profitable? The obvious answer might be no or yes due to your current perspective or knowledge of nonprofit groups.

Some might say no because nonprofit organizations shouldn’t be able to gain revenue because the point of a nonprofit organization is to only benefit a cause or help fix an issue, while others think that nonprofit organizations should be able to become profitable once the organization grows. A nonprofit has multiple ways of gaining revenue, but the most common ways most nonprofit organizations grow are by donations and/or volunteering.

Donations are the most common way nonprofits make revenue. Donations go a long way into supporting a nonprofit, especially ones that are still growing. Most nonprofits start off either with a large amount of money at their disposal or some start from the ground up.

Volunteering is also a common way to support nonprofits. Some organizations might be closed to volunteer due to being private organizations. They will usually have professional staff making it difficult for inexperienced volunteers to help out that nonprofit. While other nonprofits only

Nonprofit organizations can start off with strong support from the community, making them more private as an organization. These types of organizations usually have huge grants from regular donors and get cuts from the government due to being a certified nonprofit organization. These companies have staff who are paid and usually is their only job to work at that nonprofit.

While it is nice to see these large nonprofits giving back to the community, there are also nonprofits that start from the ground up. These organizations usually are started by students or people with slight or no experience. So should it be allowed for these nonprofits to become profitable? Selling merchandise is sometimes a controversial way for nonprofits to make money, especially for non certified organizations that do not report if they are truly a nonprofit or not. They do not receive any benefits since most of the donations they receive are unreported.

So should these organizations that claim to be nonprofit have the choice to become profitable or profitable intentions from the start? I have helped and volunteered through multiple nonprofits, so my answer to that question would be yes. Even though it might seem that the nonprofit might be a little suspicious of how their budget is used, some can be quick scams. While there are a few impostor nonprofit organizations online, it can be pretty easy to determine if a nonprofit truly wants to support a cause while others with other motives. If the staff that runs it shows that they are often communicating with their communities and have consistent events, it shows a growing nonprofit that has honorable motives. These communities should be allowed to become profitable because at the end of the day the money goes back to the leaders who helped the nonprofit grow. While, if a nonprofit is neglecting their community and hardly or not allowing members to be a part of their organizations, their motives might be at question.

Author: Om Vyas, Peddie School