How non-profits quietly destroy Markets
People who are not in business may ask, “ Why don’t you contact HBCUs or the African American Chambers of Commerce or the Urban League or insert Black Institution to help with The Design Tree. We have reached out to these institutions. However, we all have to realize these institutions exist outside of the Market. They can offer advice, but they themselves exist inside the Non-Profit Industrial complex. A system that does not create Markets but quietly destroys the networks responsible for Market formation.
One of the greatest evils of our time is the Non-Profit Industrial Complex, a robust tapestry of corporations, elite donors, governmental and non-governmental organizations that quietly destroys and distorts Markets and creates a culture antagonistic to business, innovation, and economic progress.
Non-profits are such a potent force for economic destruction that it is a known weapon of warfare. A great example of the Non-Profit Industrial Complex's destructive capacity is Haiti. Approximately 10,000 non-profits descended into Haiti after the 2010 earthquake, never leaving completely, distorting the economy, politics, and the civil structure, becoming the de facto Government, creating an alternative system divorced from markets.
Haiti happens when Non-Profits, through their presence, their charitable giving, programs, distort the people’s natural relationship to Markets. Over time, these non-profits become the alternative system, rewiring the communities' networks away from real businesses- Markets and economic growth, connecting people to the Non-Profit Industrial complex, which becomes the new opportunity. This has already happened in nearly every African American city. This system erects its own leaders that can never represent the interests of the people, but the interests of the Non-Profit Industrial complex. It's important to mention that this system is not about change at all. Any intelligent operator within this system will see clearly that these programs are completely ineffective and will never change a damn thing. The 3.7 trillion spent annually is not about making change but ensuring there is no change. Every dollar given, every leader created, every network suppressed ensures the system continues, and Markets are never born among certain populations. Social and Economic power is never exercised; local businesses, innovation has no networked connection to a Market, and nothing can root itself to grow. These tactics are used in popular Black cities like Philadelphia, Baltimore, Detroit, Chicago, New Orleans, Newark NJ, Cleveland, Buffalo, etc.
It's important to note that the Non-Profit Industrial complex's primary purpose is to manage the poverty, the crime, the violence, the low educational attainment, the poor health outcomes born out of the fallout from the absence of a Market. However, it never solves the Market problem but exacerbates the problem through its paternalistic presence. In time, the culture created from the Non-profit industrial complex becomes antagonistic to Market formation and growth because such entities threaten the entire Non-Profit system and those who benefit. To preserve the grants, the community must stay poor, marginalized, and disenfranchised, and sadly, many African Americans play a critical role in maintaining this evil system. In fact, all our major African American institutions are a part of the non-profit industrial complex, including our Masjids and our Churches ( two institutions capable of reversing their harmful effects).
We can break this evil cycle by designing markets with entrepreneurs. Standing up and demanding that markets are our Human Right and that markets create the natural networks in which businesses can grow, and people thereby freely negotiate their social and economic standing in the world. If we want to move humanity forward and advance human civilization, we must understand the power of designing Markets together.
To learn how to design Markets with entrepreneurs, click here.
