NOBLE CAUSES AND COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES

Those of us who work in the Third Sector—and particularly in a field rooted in values, with a clearly defined understanding of the human person and a compass pointing towards a clear moral north—are truly fortunate. We help an ecosystem of people and organisations seeking to advance noble causes that we share. In this way, we work for our values and earn a living doing so.

Yet the good fortune of being able to devote our professional lives to this work also brings challenges and temptations. Three stand out.

The first is to reverse the order described above. Organisations are often founded to advance particular noble causes, but they must also keep their finances healthy. The temptation to put the cause at the service of the organisation, rather than the other way around, is therefore always present. We must be clear about the order: work for the cause and earn a living doing so, rather than make a living by exploiting the cause. Such instrumentalisation frustrates the sector as a whole, delights ideological opponents, and undermines the organisation’s founding mission. This does not contradict the fact that ours is a competitive market like any other. An organisation’s competitiveness, however, should rest precisely on how effectively it advances the noble cause it was founded to serve.

Related to this is the problem of organisations putting their brand ahead of their cause. Ideally, they can grow their brand, reputation, prestige, and financial resources while also advancing the values they serve. Sometimes, however, advancing the cause is incompatible with the organisation’s growth. Indeed, protecting the organisation’s interests may even harm the cause. We should therefore remember that, first, the noble cause that inspires organisations in this sector must always come first and cannot be abandoned; and second, organisations courageous enough to understand this will ultimately benefit, in the medium and long term, precisely because of their loyalty to that cause.

Finally, there is a perhaps intractable paradox, observable in civil society and especially in political parties: noble causes become competitive advantages. Organisations that effectively represent and promote particular values develop a strong interest in establishing themselves as the leading voice—even at the expense of the cause, as described above. They may seek to “monopolise” these noble causes, placing them at the service of their organisations and preventing them from being shared by as many political parties as possible or by wider sections of society. In other words, noble causes become competitive advantages. This is a recipe for disaster: while the former ought to be shared, the latter must be retained, because making them available to everyone means losing them. Organisations founded to raise particular banners end up tearing them to shreds. The banners remain exclusively theirs, but barely rise above the ground. This is the sector’s real tragedy.

These are three challenges or dilemmas that the sector faces every day, particularly during periods of intense political activity or social instability. Responding to them is enormously complex. For my part, I believe that simply keeping these challenges in mind and allowing them to stir our consciences is already a very positive step—a sign that we are on the right path.