Crushing the Begging Bowl: How Entrepreneurial Nonprofits Can Empower Themselves and Their Customers

A begging bowl symbolizes a monk’s dependence on others. Few nonprofits practice poverty like monks. But begging has been institutionalized in the form of reliance on charitable giving instead of self sustaining entrepreneurial economic strategies. The begging bowl does not solve societal problems: it compounds them. We need to crush the begging bowl—to find alternate ways of meeting the challenges nonprofits confront. In Crushing the Begging Bowl, nonprofit chief executive Dom Betro and academics John Thomas and Gary Chartier explain how one organization transformed itself and became self-sustaining and financially secure. They invite readers to join an exciting movement committed to empowering nonprofits by enabling them to think like for-profit businesses.

“Dom Betro and his team at FSA are the most enterprising organization I have ever seen. They address every societal problem through the lens of possibility and unstoppable creativity. From revenue generating strategies and disruptive partnerships to capital leveraging approaches, they are focused on the pursuit of their mission and achieving big results to what often feel like intractable social problems. This is the model of a twenty-first century social sector organization for others to learn from and emulate.”

—Susan N. Dreyfus, President and Chief Executive Officer Alliance for Strong Families and Communities

“The whole notion of ‘non-profit’ has led too many organizations to ignore the importance of well-funded infrastructures to assure quality services and even to ignore the potential for embracing commercial activities to serve altruistic missions. The concepts and examples in this book demonstrate how social enterprise initiatives can empower nonprofit mission while assuring financial sustainability.”

—Thomas Harvey, Director Emeritus, Nonprofit Excellence Program, University of Notre Dame

“Crushing the Begging Bowl is a valuable and creative vision of how social enterprise skills help social service agencies model positive behavior for its clients, while teaching how challenges can be turned into opportunities, so that valuable social services are provided in today's complex world.”

—Reverend Monsignor Alfred P. LoPinto, Executive Director Catholic Charities of Brooklyn and Queens