Business and Civil Society: A Mixed Marriage
The Times has a story today on the commodification of Earth Day, how companies are exploiting the marketing potential of the day to the chagrin of some of the movement’s founders.
Here’s the article: http://tinyurl.com/2d66xx5
Well, I say the purists are missing the forests for the trees. Hey, it’s Earth day — the cliche works. In other words, everyone can capitalize on the renewed interest in things green to restore both environmental and economic health. It’s really a flaw in the thinking of some crusaders that money sullies the cause. Yes, it’s true, that money means power, and those who hold the pursestrings can dictate the course of action. But life is all about negotiation. Nothing is 100 percent. We work with what we have!
This morning, I heard a talk by Michael Edwards, a writer who argues against the trend of “social entrepreneurship” — the idea of using business practices to further the goals of social change espoused by the nonprofit sector. Well, Edwards feels that you can’t apply widgets and streamlined efficiencies to the messy world of nonprofit work, which relies on flexibility. He cited Dr. King’s civil rights movement as an example. I think the theory has quite a few holes, not least of which is the comparison of nonprofits to corporate culture as opposed to that of startups, which seems like a better comparison.
But I can’t help but feel that Edwards was coming from a similar perspective. This all-or-nothing, no-compromise framework, which is just, forgive me, ridiculous and unrealistic. You take a bit of the “social enterprise” ideas where they work and mix them with traditional nonprofit management where that works, and tada!
Dr. King himself would remind us of the transformative power in diversity.
