Final Analysis: Charity Works

The author of the following words is lost to history, but the message is eternal.

Be careful of your thoughts, for your thoughts become your words;
Be careful of your words, for your words become your deeds;
Be careful of your deeds, for your deeds become your habits;
Be careful of your habits, for your habits become your character;
Be careful of your character, for your character becomes your destiny.

I first came across them in a management textbook some time ago, and Im reminded of them often because Seattle Business hosts a number of awards events in the course of a year. These events, such as the Leaders in Health Care Awards featured in this months issue (page 27), celebrate the best of management, leadership and progressive organizational development.

Whenever we can, we include the leaders of nonprofit organizations in our awards programs. Generally, these executives make a fraction of the salaries of the corporate executives being honored at the same event. And while they provide an apt illustration of the income gap between the rich and everyone else, thats not why we include them. As Seattle Symphony Executive Director Simon Woods points out in his guest commentary on page 50, the economic impact of the regions cultural organizations is enormous. You can extend that statement to include all nonprofit organizations, from the United Way of King County the largest United Way affiliate in the country to the tiniest charity operating in a basement closet.

We are lucky to live in such a generous and smart community, where people understand and respond to the needs of the community, says Jon Fine, president and CEO of United Way of King County, where nearly 98 cents of every dollar donated goes to the community. Fine was one of the honorees in our Executive Excellence Awards this year, joining Paul Lambros, executive director of Plymouth Housing Group, and Deborah Jensen, president and CEO of Woodland Park Zoo, on the nonprofit side of the program.

These honorees and others frequently discuss their thoughts, their words and their deeds as they relate the nonprofit experience to the general welfare and the economic stability of the region. Meanwhile, it is their habits and character that get them considered for selection in the first place.

Thinking about nonprofits as drivers of the economy may seem counterintuitive to a dedicated capitalist. But, especially when you put arts organizations, hospitals and universities in the mix, they constitute an outsized economic presence in most large cities. Writing in Nonprofit Finance for Hard Times, author Susan Raymond reports, Between 1995 and 2005, the total assets of public charities rose from $843 billion to $1.98 trillion, an inflation-adjusted increase of 84 percent. … The nonprofit sector is not just a spender of money; it is an aggregator of capital.

Raymond continues, Public charities are not victims of economics. They are part of the nations economic structure. They are (or ought to be) masters of their own destiny, vibrant economic actors with a wide range of revenue options and strategies.

Of course, the best nonprofits have leaders who are excellent business managers who understand a balance sheet and know how to create a business plan. But more important than that, their good habits and noble characters generate creative thoughts, eloquent words and noteworthy deeds that are noticed and appreciated by those of us in the for-profit community. Those qualities make us want to engage with them, not just to give them awards but to encourage them to continue providing the glue that holds our community together.

John Levesque is the managing editor of Seattle Business magazine.