What if you looked at giving differently? We think of giving as donating to a charity, to an organization who helps those in need. We take a portion of our money and give to organizations without a means of income so they can continue their good work. We want our money to have the greatest possible impact for good. But we make a huge assumption that charities are the best way to accomplish our goal. Let’s instead focus on the ultimate impact and the means for achieving it rather than settling for the “good-enough” that charities can accomplish.
I’m not anti-charity, quite the opposite as you’ll find out, but the question is worth asking. The point of view that started me thinking about this aspect of giving were the news articles about what Larry Page, co-founder of Google, said he’d do with his money when he died. He had a completely different perspective that is worth exploring.
Mission-Driven For-Profit Doing Good Work is More Powerful than Giving to Charity Directly
“If I were to get hit by a bus today, I’d give all my money to Elon Musk” said Larry.[i] “I could give my money to a nonprofit and a lot less would get done than a corporation that’s pursuing things that are directly aligned with things I care about…” Page believes in those missions and thinks that “a corporation endowed with the right to do that as its business purpose is the best vehicle out there.”[ii] Larry Page views for-profit corporations, who figure out how to make a profit out of accomplishing a worthy goal as the most powerful way to put his money to work. He has a low view of charities in accomplishing the things he cares about.
Can a For-Profit Company Funding the Pro-Life Movement Magnify each Dollars Impact?
Does Larry have a point? How can funding a corporation be applied to the pro-life movement to save more babies? I can’t imagine a scenario where pro-life non-profits start turning a profit to grow their organizations and do more good. The customers are truly in need and quite often without the means to pay for services. By expecting payments, the pro-life organizations would be giving up the filed to the pro-murder team without a fight. If we are focused on outcomes, then we need to figure out how to allow pro-life non-profits to do more of the good work they are doing without having to worry about a profit. When we identify that method, we should see a worthy direction for the money we want to give to charities to have the greatest impact.
See our Article, Is the Pro-Life Movement an Afterthought or a Partner? For detailed thought on the massive impact for-profit, mission-driven companies can have on the Pro-Life movement.
Mission-Driven Companies Attract the Best Talent and Have the Best Chance at Success
Venture capitalist Steve Jurvetson, who was doing the interview, contrasts the Page approach with the approach of Bill Gates who spent the first half of his life building a gigantic for-profit company and the second half working with non-profits. A “purpose-driven business” could offer the best of both worlds.[iii] In fact, Jurvetson shares that the best-performing startups in his venture portfolio often have compelling missions. And it aligns well with Sam Altman’s advice that it’s easier to start a hard company than an easy company: “The most precious commodity in the startup ecosystem right now is talented people, and for the most part, talented people want to work on something they find meaningful… An easy startup is a headwind; a hard startup is a tailwind. If people care about your success because you seem committed to doing something significant, it’s a background force helping you with hiring, advice, partnerships, fundraising, etc.”[iv]
For Page, Musk’s ambitious goals aligned with his belief that companies, when run effectively, could drive revolutionary change. He elaborated, saying, “Lots of companies don’t succeed over time. They usually miss the future … I try to focus on that: What is the future really going to be? And how do we create it?”[v]
Save Ten Times the Number of Preborn Children
The point again is that for-profit businesses, if they partner with the pro-life movement in a real way, can save 10 times more unborn children from death than the ‘afterthought’ model of today. The owners of Pro Life Payments were dedicated to the mission of saving babies, not building a business to make themselves rich.[vi]
[i] https://www.linkedin.com/posts/big-brain-business_if-i-were-to-get-hit-by-a-bus-today-id-activity-7237092782215970817-0hsW?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
[ii] https://www.linkedin.com/posts/the-startup-archive_why-larry-page-said-hed-leave-his-money-activity-7166413995917107201-sOxN?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
[iii] https://www.linkedin.com/posts/the-startup-archive_why-larry-page-said-hed-leave-his-money-activity-7166413995917107201-sOxN?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
[iv] https://www.linkedin.com/posts/the-startup-archive_why-larry-page-said-hed-leave-his-money-activity-7166413995917107201-sOxN?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
[v] https://finance.yahoo.com/news/larry-page-google-co-founder-170017313.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYmluZy5jb20v&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAKzvBZ-Sv4uaXp5QEJwwaZbzuzI9xXnYXfPh2wsIN96ccrCxInSr-0xPc5SJxSPzNPlKzHp8K6s-yrTrwHfO_gOROlP0DHe92oMck6xL3wqam04FGOMrQzpZv0hNxqpMYF6UjQ3So76CryOnuvX_UB_AJud5r15NZo8j0-ruQg9R
[vi] https://prolifepayments.com/blog/is-the-pro-life-movement-an-afterthought-or-a-partner/