The Life of the (Nonprofit) Mind
Between budgets, board meetings and the next big fundraiser, most nonprofit leaders have little time to contemplate larger questions. When they do find a minute, the topic is usually the organization’s mission – the good it is trying to achieve. But, is there ever time to consider the philosophical underpinnings of our work? I think this is actually quite important. We devote our lives to important causes, often fighting difficult, even losing, battles, because we believe we are on the right side, the moral side of the issue. But why?
Philosophers, going back many centuries, have tried to define morality, to distinguish good from evil, and to describe our role in the moral sphere. Immanuel Kant, in the 19th century, wrote a Groundwork for a Metaphysic of Morals, a work I encountered in an introductory philosophy course a long time ago. Kant’s central argument has always stuck with me. Once a person knows what is right, Kant declares, he or she is under a moral imperative to do it. If you are unclear in your heart where the correct course lies, obviously you can’t act. But, after reflection, if you feel confident in your knowledge – this course is morally correct – then you are bound by morality to pursue it.
This is in a way the (unacknowledged) moral basis of the nonprofit sector. Many people go through life without really considering larger social questions of right and wrong, justice and equity. Those who do, often arrive at the same conclusions: about basic human rights, group responsibility for individual needs, our duty to the planet and to succeeding generations, and similar weighty concerns. People who think deeply about these issues, those who are clear about what is right, often work in the nonprofit sector. Since they know what is right, they feel they must pursue it. In this sector, we are all Kantians.
