Let’s say that all For-Profit Corporations make 10% Net Profit from their operations. This is an over-optimistic Net Profit percentage, but it makes the numbers easy to work with. What if all For-Profit Corporations would tithe 10% of their profits to Non-Profit Organizations, who work to make the world a better place? A tithe would be 10% of their profits. Their profits are 10% of their operations. 10% of 10% is 1%. A corporation’s tithe of their profits equals 1% of their overall operations. Therefore, 1% of the impact of a For-Profit Corporation (in this example) would go towards making the world a better place, while the other 99% of their activities maybe don’t contribute to making the world a better place. Indeed, they may damage the environment, local communities, or human relations. The dilemma is this: Non-Profit Organizations, whose work helps make the world a better place, all have to share pieces of that 1%. The only way for Non-Profit Organizations to increase the amount of good that they do in the world is if For-Profit Corporations somehow give them more money (either through higher donations or taxation). The only way that For-Profit Corporations can give Non- Profit Organizations more money is for them to increase the scope of their operations in order to generate more profit. But, by increasing the scope of the 99% of their operation that generates the 1% that they donate, they may further damage the environment, communities and human relations. Every increase in the 1% potentially increases the problem 99 times more. It’s worse than that, though. Actual corporate and individual giving to Non-Profits is not 10%. Both are 2-3%. Average individual giving is 2-3% of our income. Businesses, likewise, on average donate 2-3% of their profits. So for businesses, 2-3% corporate giving of 10% profits (which we already said are overstated for ease of math) results in 0.2-0.3% of business activity, as measured in dollars, applied directly to making the world a better place, while 99.7-99.8% of business activity is directed at making money. The efforts directed at making money may help make the world a better place, be neutral, or actually damage the world.
41
Made with FlippingBook - Share PDF online