Selfish? Maybe. Smart? Yes.

"Tapping into the power of self-interest is more effective than appealing to altruism" (p. 58). (Has anyone seen the Friends episode where Phoebe tries to prove that not all actions are selfish? At the end of the episode she lets a bee sting her to prove that she committed a selfless act. One of the characters however, pointed out that bees die after they sting).

I find this statement in chapter three from Forces for Good to be a realistic way of thinking about nonprofit work. Being that many of us will be going into the public or nonprofit field, we already understand the importance of this kind of work. However, it is easy to forget that not all people are as excited about it as us. I think it is human nature for people to be guided by their own self-interests and therefore, it is important for organizations to understand self-interest and how to leverage themselves with businesses or business practices to be effective. I appreciate the type of strategic relationship that Environmental Defense had with businesses like McDonald's. This type of relationship to me seems the most practical of all the different business strategies the authors talk about in Forces for Good. In this case, Environmental Defense worked directly towards its mission by working with businesses to clean up the environment. I see how other business strategies such as nonprofits starting their own businesses to raise revenue can be effective, but it still requires manpower and money that I feel could be used elsewhere when possible. In the case with Environmental Defense and McDonald's, all manpower was put directly into the mission, and McDonald's was spending much of its own money to make this happen. What could be better than partnering with a business who not only is working with you toward your mission, but is also spending its own money to do it?