Alyssa Lee on On Our Own Terms

In On Our Own Terms, Ruth Wilson Gilmore writes about the “non-profit industrial complex.” The non-profit industrial complex is heavily compared to the military industrial complex and the prison industrial complex. All three complexes boil down to one issue, “that something is amiss.”

Essentially receiving and using money is what is amiss for nonprofits. Gilmore stresses the financial glass ceiling that nonprofits must consistently contend to because funds are usually for specific projects and not core goals. A perfect example of this would be when INCITE!’s a large amount funding was taken back from the Ford Foundation because of the foundation’s support of Palestine. The Ford Foundation cut funding from one event INCITE! because of this and completely overlooking the fact that the foundation wants to combat violence against women of color. This occurrence proves that funding is a sticky situation for nonprofits because you want to receive funding, continue day to day operations, and get the word out on your organization, but how do you do this without restraints?

The topic of funding also lead me to wonder if nonprofits should conserve their views and opinions when starting out small. To further elaborate on an off putting sentence, nonprofits could abide by funders rules when they are just beginning to receive funding. Obviously this would have the foundation itself contesting its morals and beliefs momentarily, but would it eventually pay off in the end? I personally do not believe this is worth it, but do some nonprofits believe it?

Because of my previous paragraph, I started to think of nonprofits that are so large and widely known that they receive funding without supporters batting and eye. For example, Salvation Army is a very well known nonprofit that continuously receives support through its shops. Many people who donate clothes and shop with them do not question how religious, transphobic, and homophobic the organization truly is. Salvation Army is so huge and well known that their underlying principles are not questioned anymore. This is obviously very different for smaller organizations who need to receive funding, but are scrutinized for their underlying principles.

In class I would like to further discuss other nonprofits that are silenced because of funding or others that are overlooked because they are so well known.