It’s what you are.
According to Wikipedia, a not-for-profit agency is an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals rather than distributing them as profit or dividends. That doesn’t sound like a description of what something is not to me. It sounds like what it is!
“Not-for-profit” is a bad way to describe what these organizations are. Nonprofits exist for a purpose. They’re pro-mission. They do all kinds of good things for society and in the world. Not for nothing, but there’s a need for some re-branding here.
The nonprofit community needs to think more positively. How can the industry describe itself in an affirmative way? Should it be called the mission sector? The philanthropic sector? The social sector? How about the problem-solving industry? Or, instead of the not-for-profit sector, how about the recycle-the-profit sector? Okay, now I’m getting a little carried away. But the point is, there are alternatives and we should start using them.
Fundraising consultants counsel their nonprofit clients to distinguish themselves by demonstrating their value distinctly and communicating clearly. Yet it seems to me that the industry as a whole neglects to follow this advice. Nonprofits matter. The sector is robust and vibrant. Why shouldn’t we refer to it in a way that reflects the positive impact it has on our quality of life?
It’s time to change the thinking. Let’s start a movement. I, for one, don’t see any reason not to.