As I have began to learn more about the nonprofit sector I have seen how vastly different from for-profit companies are from nonprofits and the distinct difference is how they are managed. With nonprofits they have a set mission and practices but their revenue stream is often unpredictable and unreliable. This possess a challenge when it comes to management because it makes it hard to plan things out or create new projects becasue the funding may not be set yet.
On top of the that nonprofit managers get hit with a double bottom line that makes them not only have to stress over the finances of the company but they are also successfully completing the mission of the company. The combination fo these two things can often get overwhelming and is normally the root cause as to why so many are unable to stay in the nonprofit sector for too long.
This is not all to say that we should get rid of the bottom line but when a manager is set with the task of managing both areas while also having a very low pay themselves it can be hard for them to find the motivation to keep going. With for-profit companies the course of managing the company is clear cut and the stakeholders are often the ones guiding them with monitory bonuses. While nonprofits dont have those stakeholders providing them with bonuses what the sector can have is a more serious and competitive nature.
If it were treated in the same way as the for-profit sector, highly qualified candidates would be interested in it creating the competitive nature that the for-profit sector thrives in. This would only be possible if we as a society got rid of the the negative connotation around overhead costs. Im not exactly sure when or how but so many nonprofits are put under fire for their overhead costs but no one tends to care about for-profit business overhead costs.
I’m sure nonprofits would love to find a way to maximizing both their workers salary and their mission but with the world and economy being the way it is right now it is expensive to run any business. Using low overhead costs as a bargaining chip in order for the nonprofit to get your donation is extremely wrong.
As our society continues to grow the need for nonprofits and the work that they do will continue to grow. If we ever want to truly try and solve the issues then will we need to take nonprofits and the way that they are managed more seriously.