I realized a while ago that in my whole career I’ve never worked for a for-profit corporation.
Recently I’ve been wondering if non-profit corporations could succeed in areas typically dominated by for-profit corporations. I’m in the U.S.
There are certainly plenty of non-profits functioning, employing people, and providing services to the public. Schools, Hospitals, public radio & TV, etc. But what areas are there where non-profits could exist and survive where they don’t currently?
Well, that’s it. My focus wasn’t primarily on the tax status or ability to accept donations. I was thinking more about disconnecting from the profit motive and wondering about what sorts of things a non-profit could do that they might not be doing now.
The Raspberry Pi Foundation’s experience trying to manufacturer computer hardware as a non-profit is also what I’m thinking of. It seems obvious that some industries would be difficult or impossible for a non-profit to break into.
I will say that my employer has no problems with contacts or NDAs as far as I’m aware, although our legal department can be challenging to work with. Most for-profit vendors can deal with a tax-exempt customer fairly easily. You just have to make sure they get the correct forms.
Not all non-profits are charities, sometimes they are industry groups, whose charter is to improve cooperation between companies in a common industry who would otherwise by competitors, and not to itself compete with any of them. (Yours might be, if your username is any clue).
In this case, it’s a bit different, because while the organization doesn’t seem to make a profit, it’s members do, and they may provide most of the group’s funding.