Week 9 Non-profits and NGOs

     This week we learned about non-profits and NGOs. I think that non-profits are really important, especially because they are on the ground, seeing the day to day of the communities they serve in a way that a large government can't. Overall I think they're a net positive to society. 

    Fun little side fact, I used to work for a non-profit organization. I loved it, however it's really interesting to observe how a non-profit effects the communities it helps from the perspective outside of working for one. A huge downside of working for a non-profit is that the budget is always tight. Which meant that even though I had worked there for a few years, there were no raises. No employees received any raises at all ever. And, because the company could not afford to provide it's workers with insurance it circumvented that requirement by having all workers be "contract" workers. Thus they were not legally required to provide the option for insurance. I loved my job, and my coworkers, but the monetary side of things was so abysmal that I had to leave and get a job elsewhere. That whole thing made me very sad for a very long time because while I working for that non-profit I really felt like I was making a difference. Pros and cons I suppose. 

    Anyways, if I were still that employee of a non-profit, I would use this lesson as a way to point out how the company could be more sustainable and thusly more effective. I worked there for three years, most employees lasted six months due to how hard the job was and how little the pay was. If you want your business to expand, reach more people, help more then you need to have more people stick around. I dunno, I suppose that's a very biased take, but it's the only take I have.