today's maxim: nonprofit is the new black

Nonprofit Is The New Black

*in times of terrible economic crisis, nothing says 'hip' like claiming that you're 'helping'*

Today's young, fresh, privileged entrepreneurs are sporting the latest style: nonprofit! From the historic national organizations with big reputations, bigger pockets, and even bigger social movement co-optation to the bright energy of the local, tight service agency that has to keep finding new 'disadvantaged communities' to 'target' so that they can get enough money to last another four months: these outfits are the latest national craze. And talk about attention! People are flocking to nonprofits left and right, priming a seat for themselves in the hopes of carving out their unique take on a mainstream fashion. Want some 'community experience' to put on your resume? Looking towards a corporate executive career with a friendlier, spunkier edge? Anxious to get your hands dirty in the highly competitive world of grant writing? Feeling guilty, despairing, and downright shitty about the world getting worse, the social movements failing to formalize, and you helpless in its wake? You can get your fix--and so much more than you ever imagined!--at a not-for-profit organization.

And in hard times, not making a profit isn't just a style--it's becoming a way of life! It's not at all unusual now for city, county, and state governments to throw in their respective towels and try their hand at the highs and lows incumbent on this burgeoning industry (that's N-P-I-C to you! Non Profit Industrial! Complex!). Why, just the other day, I heard that federal stimulus grant money in the vicinity of $10 million went public and open for the taking here in Minnesota. Can you believe the eruption! You can still feel the tremors of all that typing, pens on paper, and clicks of the mouse as hundreds, thousands of applications launched into cyberspace, riding little more than a hope, prayer, and several pages of statistics that assess the continuing dire needs exposed by a social problem that has shown little to no signs of improvement over the last few decades despite the sincere effort of said application filer. It was a regular nonprofit extravaganza! The latest concepts, ideas, daring provocation and old stand-by's, vying for the chance to have the coolest source of money out there! And those nonprofits weren't alone. No, all these government agencies, public offices, legislatures, the whole range, they got into the action. The result? $90 million in requests! For $10 million available! Think of what a show that was! All the alternative schools, the AIDS clinics, the public works programs, the arts centers, the GLBTQ youth organizations, the housing assistance groups, this regular tapestry of the best nonprofits out there, showing off their threads, duking it out in utter desperation! Think of the drama! Think of the excitement! Think of all the groups that got turned down!

And let me say, as one currently employed in one (and previously employed in one, and even more previously employed in one--hell, I was a trendsetter long before the recession!): this nonprofit world has yet to see its peak! Before you know it, everyone out there will be living by and obeying the intricate rules, norms, and standards of everything nonprofit.

You can see it in the cards. Governments everywhere are severely cutting back their financial support for the poor, for communities of color, and for urban populations, just a worsening of a much longer history of strategic disinvestment to cripple the gains of social movements in the 1960's. The solution? Nonprofits!

The devastation of the economic crisis is provoking widespread anger and betrayal, which various state and capitalist forces will be keen on directing into socially acceptable levels of resistance, grounded in higher access to a shortage of resources, thus encouraging intra-community competition that makes for fewer social improvements. Where can we turn to? Nonprofits!

And as more children grow up to learn that all those cushy jobs their privileged parents and extended family and their connections assured them won't be there anymore, new avenues will have to open up--avenues that not only make these young people feel better about themselves, but also are goddamn high-paying jobs, and that incentive alone may even encourage them to keep these avenues intact. What better opportunity than to manage and direct a nonprofit!

You heard it here first, folks--nonprofit is the new black! So get on board while it's hot, and while there's still a small amount of money available to get you started!