A Rant Against Non-Profits
23rd July 2011
Arnold Kling is not afraid to expose the man behind the curtain.
One of the other panelists, Maya Wiley, made no pretense of humility. She would gladly spend whatever it takes (of other people’s money, of course) to give everyone broadband Internet access, whether they want it or not. I can imagine a scene where she announces getting government funding for fiber-optic Internet connections to a poor neighborhood, and while she stands beaming in front of a group of poor people, several of them get out their smart phones and ask her, “You’re not going to make me give up my 4G, are you?” (And, yes, poor people are adopting smart phones.)
‘I want to move to a country where the poor people have smart phones.’
Basically, Wiley and LaMarche reinforced my view that non-profits are for people who would rather dictate to customers than serve them.
My, what a surprise. Aren’t you surprised? I’m sure surprised.
In the non-profit sector, donors are comparable to shareholders and agencies are comparable to management. But the beneficiaries have no say in the matter.
Much like taxpayers in the ‘public sector’, if you call donors ‘contributors’.
What’s worse than a non-profit that by its nature ignores the wishes of beneficiaries and instead gives them what the donors and managers think they should want? A non-profit that by its nature uses the coercive mechanisms of government to ignore the wishes of beneficiaries, etc.
And, baby, do we have a overabundance of those.