There is a miserable unemployment problem in the
UK for skilled, unskilled and highly educated
people. Most young people have only chance of gaining
the "experienced" word into their CV if they work
unpaid for one of these "non-profit" organisations.
Usually doing a job that used to be paid in the past,
under a manager, who's making as good money
as can be. The structure of these
bodies are usually archaic and even less
democratic than ususal, no trade unions, etc.
Most of these organisations live on
government grants and subsidies, including
charities. This "privatisation" is a waste
of money and loss of professionality.
Eva
> > From the Economist
> >
> > The non-profit sector - LOVE OR MONEY
> >
> > FOR economists, the non-profit organisation is something of an
> > evolutionary oddity. Without the forces that drive conventional
> > firms-shareholders, stock options and, of course, profits-it has still
> > managed to thrive in the market economy. Indeed, a pioneering
> > international study*, published this week, shows that the non-profit
> > sector now accounts for an average of one in every 20 jobs in the 22
> > developed and developing countries it examined.
> >
> > In the nine countries for which the change between 1990 and 1995 could be
> > measured, non-profit jobs grew by 23%, compared with 6.2% for the whole
> > economy. In some countries, they grew faster still: by 30% in Britain,
> > according to Jeremy Kendall of the London School of Economics, who carried
> > out the British end of the study. Why this remarkable expansion?
> >
> > Non-profits span a vast range. Some sell goods and services (such as
> > American hospitals) and compete head-on with profit-making firms; others
> > are religious bodies and campaigning groups, supported largely by
> > donations. In between, in Europe, are the Catholic and Protestant
> > non-profits, such as Germany's Caritas, which provide many social
> > services, and are financed by the state, but independent of it. Because
> > the Netherlands has many such bodies, it tops the list for non-profit
> > employment (see chart). To find a definition that fitted all 22 countries
> > meant including institutions such as universities, trade unions and
> > business associations.
> >
> > Graph - Non profit share of total employment 1995 - Source John Hopkins
> > University
> >
> > A clue to the success of non-profits is that their growth seems to have
> > been fastest in countries where government social-welfare spending is
> > high. That suggests they complement government provision, rather than
> > substituting for it. Indeed, public money partly finances many
> > non-profits-such as Britain's housing associations, which rely on a mix of
> > state cash and rents to house the poor. They are, in a sense, an
> > off-balance-sheet arm of government.
> >
> > At their best they are flexible and innovative. However, as non-profits
> > become more important, so do their shortcomings. One is what Mr Kendall
> > delicately terms "accountability lapses": non-profits tend to reflect the
> > interests of many different groups, but those of the consumer often come
> > low on the list. Boards of directors of non-profits are typically much
> > larger than those of firms, but they serve a different function. As
> > Rosabeth Moss Kanter, a management guru at Harvard Business School, puts
> > it, they "are often treated like cheerleaders who have to be given good
> > news so they'll go out and raise funds."
> >
> > Another problem, says Lester Salamon, one of the study's main authors, is
> > finding competent line managers. Moreover, management may be more complex
> > than in a conventional company. Because a firm typically makes money
> > directly from its customers, it has an incentive to provide what they
> > want. In a non-profit, the money may come not from the clients-the
> > homeless, say, or the elderly-but from a mixture of grants, donations and
> > charges.
> >
> > Training for running non-profits is still scarce. Michael O'Neill, of the
> > Institute for Nonprofit Organisation Management at the University of San
> > Francisco, reckons that 10m people and 100m volunteers work for
> > non-profits in America; but no more than 1,000 students a year pass
> > through management courses such as the ones he runs. Across the country,
> > at the Harvard Business School, the social-enterprise programme that James
> > Austin directs aims to ensure that MBAs who go into mainstream business
> > know something of running non-profits. Mr Austin recently surveyed 10,000
> > HBS graduates and found that about 80% were involved in non-profits in
> > some way; 57% sat on the board of a non-profit.
> >
> > In fact, points out Ms Moss Kanter, the largest non-profits can attract
> > professionals to the top jobs. John Sawhill, a former McKinsey partner,
> > heads America's Nature Conservancy; Frances Hesselbein ran the Girl Scouts
> > of the USA and graced the cover of
