A Guide to Business Development
for Non-Profit Organizations.
Women Skills Development Society: Community Economic Options.
52 pages, $10.00 (British Columbia: Douglas College 1987).
Review by Paula De Coito

This guide is deceptively well-researched, well-organized, and well-written. "Deceptively" because the managerial and editorial competence of the authors may blind the reader to the latent role of the Guide in contemporary Canadian society. That role is one of support for the privatization policy of our governments. Furthermore, the Guide can be interpreted as an indirect contributor to the ghettoization of women business entrepreneurs in low-income areas.
     Reflecting the ethic of co-operation in the non-profit sector, the Guide is the joint product of Women Skills Development society, Douglas College (British Columbia), and the Ministry of Advanced Education and Job Training (British Columbia). Although it is written specifically for non-profit organizations, the concepts and insights it presents are of value to all would-be entrepreneurs. The authors do not duplicate the many "how-to-start-a-small-business" books already in the marketplace. Instead, they itemize the kinds of decisions that non-profit organizations have to make when considering the option of starting a new business and describe activities which they can undertake in order to make effective decisions.
     Nine areas of decision making are discussed in the nine chapters of the Guide. These include, among others, financing a project and choosing a legal structure, and in addition there are substantive lists of resources, a bibliography, and suggestions for "further reading".
    The average volunteer or staff member of a non-profit organization is not likely to be intimidated or overwhelmed by the wealth of information in the Guide; the authors employ a conversational tone. Moreover, their language is straightforward and their style direct. Altogether, the Guide provides a service for business entrepreneurs who have been long ignored by the mainstream Guides on business ownership and management: private non-profit organizations.
     The value of this service notwithstanding, there is some reason to be cynical about the appearance of the Guide at this time. When the Mulroney government won its landslide victory in 1984 one of the first policies it announced was that of privatization. Recently, a report of the Premier's Council of Ontario urged the liberal government of that province to contract out more of its professional and technical work to the private sector. One can expect the private sector (for-profits and non-profits) to develop strategies to take advantage of the many entrepreneurial opportunities facilitated by such privatization. Indeed, the private non-profit sector is well positioned to compete with the private for-profit sector. This is due in no small part to their traditional image as a sector concerned not with the almighty dollar but with the welfare of the ordinary citizen. A business development guide at this time helps the non-profit sector to capitalize on that image.
     Further analysis reveals that the Guide (unintentionally) contributes to the ghettoization of women entrepreneurs in traditional areas of women's paid work. The private non-profit sector is female-dominated and is known to have an unstable and meager financial base. If this sector gets into the business of creating new businesses, it will only be offering entrepreneurial opportunities for women in low-income fields. Of course, half a loaf is better than none at all. The new businesses will provide jobs and non-profit business owners will argue that owning their own businesses helps them to become more fiscally autonomous and less dependent upon their major founder, the government This is a concrete benefit of business ownership for non-profit organizations.

A Guide to Business Development for Non-Profit Organizations is a fitting product for the contemporary economic scene in Canada in which entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs are being hailed as the architects of the future, economic expansion is regarded as the norm, and concepts such as global "marketplace" and "multi-nationals" are commonplace. It is a scene in which self-reliance and self-development are the primary social values. When seen in this context, the Guide can be interpreted as a strategic tool for facilitating increased self-reliance and expansion for the private non-profit organizations. One wonders what will be next on the business agenda of this sector: mergers, corporate take-over, collaboration between non-profits and for- profits, off-shore production? More guides for business development will have to be published.

Paula De Caito is the president of the social Planning Council of Peel (Ontario). She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto, for which her thesis addressed Canadian women entrepreneurs.