BP'ers

I need some enlightenment. Recently I have become aware that my idea of
the fiscal operation of a non-profit organization differs from the idea
that other people seem to have. It seems that there is this predominant
belief that a non-profit functions *at cost* and without a profit. This
conflicts with my concept of organizational survival, regardless of tax
status or labels.

I have always perceived profit as being what you will need to stay alive
tomorrow. At cost, break even, is like getting to the end of the day
with nothing and saying that is enough. I think it is fairly safe to say
that there are no promises for tomorrow and that we need take some care
to see that we will at least have breakfast in the morning. Then again,
some of us only care for a smoke.

My understanding of a non-profit is that it must generate a profit in
order to survive, and that it is the allocation of the profits, back
into the organization, that makes the distinction from a for-profit
organization in which the profits are disbursed to shareholders. I am of
the idea that a  non-profit organization is an artificial distinction
for purposes of distinguishing tax status, not for the purposes of
giving us all lots of interesting and altruistic things to do that we
cannot maintain because we have to keep pulling money out of our
personal accounts (built up from our poast profits) to fund.

The reason I am having a problem with this is that in my involvement on
several non-profit fronts I keep being given a *high-altruism* line of
selfless service which I can hardly afford to maintain forever. I don't
mind volunteering, but I am skeptical whenever I am told that the
venture has to operate at cost, or that cost is not even to be
considered. It seems to me that this is a request to be involved in
efforts that do not have survival built into them. I do not intend to
target any particular involvement, as I am involved in several
activities. It is a general tendency in discussions that arise where I
end up feeling the villain because I insist the effort has to have a
primary result in a realization of revenue to the organization. Sort of
like a bad taste thing. I think the first test of any activity has to be
to answer the question of when it will pay itself back and finance the
next level of activity.

Nobody ever survives on altruism alone.

][<en Follett