Non-Profit or For-Profit?

The New York Times has a good article about whether incorporating as a non-profit is always the best option for companies with a do-good mission. The non-profit model has benefits, such as exemption from taxation and tax-deductibility of donations. But often for-profit companies, whose activities are less scrutinized by state and federal governments and are not restricted to charitable purposes, do a better job of funding their social mission than non-profits.

The Economist's review of Dan Pallotta's Uncharitable: How Restraints on Nonprofits Undermine Their Potential provides another example of a for-profit company doing a better job at charitable fundraising (in this case, to benefit AIDS and breast cancer charities) than the charities themselves. The book discusses the disconnect in American thought between charitable aims and profit-making. There's no reason for the two to be mutually exclusive.