And here’s the point (finally): It Only Matters What You Do!!! Unless of course you are talking about branding and communication and perceptions then it’s almost as important to say the right things as do the right things. Community Benefit Organization is a great start, perhaps even a designation that ANY organization can achieve, nonprofit or for-profit (I’m REALLY getting tired of that distinction). Not sure about the actual title, bit cumbersome and boring, accurate but boring. And boring is a great sin in the public’s arena of perception and criticism.

But the idea is right on, and this is definitely something to work towards. If I come up with some good ideas for another name I’ll let you know, or just check my blog… you will find it interesting.

http://www.enlivent.com/blog/2009/10/can-you-change-the-world/

AIG did good things by helping people deal with tragedies. Those people paid for the service, but you could still consider that a community benefit organization. How many communities have been rebuilt using payouts from AIG after a hurricane or tornado? Including for-profits taints the image of nonprofits.

Nonprofits sell their saintly image and warm, fuzzy feelings to their donors, because the majority of donors don’t receive goods or services for their contributions. Lumping businesses that give bonuses with nonprofits that don’t may confuse people more. They might think that all community benefit organizations are allowed to give bonuses.

Donors have a right to expect that their money is used for the mission, not bonuses, and won’t donate if they think something is fishy. Even the hint of legalized embezzlement turns people off and would crush not only the for-profit businesses, but nonprofits as well. If the intention is to get people more involved and improve communities, that can’t be achieved if the organizations go out of business for something legal but anathema.

I am reminded of a client from many years back, who was sharing with me a short-sighted decision his board had just made. He laughed as he told me, “But you know us – when it comes to shooting ourselves in the foot, we’ve got 20/20 aim!”

If we’re all on the same side, walls and distrust are self-defeating, ensuring we will not succeed in creating visionary change in our communities. That said, though, the systems within which we work reinforce those walls at every turn.

If we really want to effect change in our world, it seems that one huge condition to accomplishing that is changing from an assumptoin that there will always be walls dividing our work, moving towards an assumption that we will work together and trust each other.

From that assumption, we can knock down the systems that encourage us to bicker and distrust, and we can create systems that encourage us to work together towards common goals. But as it is with all things, the thinking (assumptions and expectations) has to change before the doing will change.

HG

“If the true intent of a business is community benefit and the end result is that the world becomes the amazing place it is capable of being – does it matter if a ‘for-profit’ or a ‘nonprofit’ creates that change?”

As the owner of an entrepreneurial venture the sole purpose of which is to create a very significant “community benefit,” I’ve chosen a “for-profit” legal entity for exactly the “freedom-to-maneuver” that Hildy points out.

So I’m taken aback by the mistrustful, anti-business tone of many of these comments.

After decades working in the “nonprofit” sector, am I suddenly now the enemy simply because I’ve chosen to contribute to society through a different kind of legal entity?

Is it so difficult to imagine that one can create economic abundance in the process of creating community benefit, or vice versa? (Well, that gets into the whole stream of limited, deficit-based thinking, doesn’t it?)

The comments here have really got me thinking. Thanks, Hildy, for sparking the conversation — and especially for seeing the value in all sectors of society.

About reason #2: I don’t find ‘Community Benefit Organization’ straightforward OR clear. What community? Local? National? Global? And “benefit” is so general it effectively can be anything you want it to be.

Reason #3, that it creates a strong, powerful self-image. Well, no. George Carlin once had a bit about how fewer syllables had more of an impact – which moves more levers in your brain, “shellshock” or “post traumatic stress syndrome”?

Reason #4 gives for-profit organizations a convenient out for making a profit off of potentially disingenuous “beneficial” actions.

Reason #5: “Focus on providing benefit!” While you’re at it, they should promote synergy and maximize value.

Reason #6: “Community Benefit is a promise.” I see your point, but “community benefit” is so vague that it’s effectively a promise to do “something”.

I wonder if this has to be an “either/or” or perhaps there can be a “both/and” approach?

As a consultant I’ve loved the term community benefit sector in part because my mission-based work has been limited to supporting groups that are dedicated to changing the world — for over 12 years, that has always been nonprofits and public organizations. Thinking about it this way, I am bringing down one of my own (self-righteous?) walls of “I don’t consult with for-profits.” Doesn’t the intention, and not the tax status, matter most? (This is pushing me. I have a large dose of skepticism about profit motive in general, residual from past work lives.)

As a consumer and community member, there are times I want to know tax status. Not necessarily as a final judgment, but as information. Is it appropriate to prefer a child care provider that is nonprofit over one that is profit-driven? Can this be one factor in assessing our options?

So as an organization, is it muddier to describe ourselves both as community benefit when describing why we do our work, and nonprofit (if we are) when this aspect of “how” may be important?

I don’t imagine we’re creating an exclusive club… what are some situations when a wolf in CBO clothes could harm our communities?

got my wheels turning…