Differences between For-Profit and Non-Profit Corporations

When we look beyond an organization’s Internal Revenue Service (IRS) non-profit status as reported on their IRS 990 Form, many of the distinctions between For-Profit and Non-Profit corporations become operationally meaningless when viewed from the structures-and-systems perspective. As Peter Drucker states, “The differences between managing a chain of retail stores and managing a Roman Catholic Diocese are amazingly fewer than retail executives or bishops realize. The differences are mainly in the application rather than the principles.” Many of the timeless principles that produce sustained financial and non-financial performance in high-performing For-Profit companies can also be applied to Non-Profit corporations, as described by Collins in his monograph, Good to Great and the Social Sectors. In fact, contrary to the view taught in many business schools, recent studies such as Collins and Porras’ Good to Great have shown that profit and wealth are not the driving force or primary objective of truly visionary For-Profit companies. Rather, For-Profit companies have a larger purpose in life, and this purpose becomes the focal point on the business horizon, guiding every decision they make. Generating revenue becomes a means to an end for truly visionary For-Profit companies, not an end in itself.