Page 240 - The Drucker Lectures

29

Managing the Nonprofit

Organization

2001

he emergence of the social sector, the independent sector,
Twhatever you want to call it, is a very recent phenomenon.
And it is very different from the traditional charity. Their aim
was to relieve suffering, and it was good for the soul of the giver.
Nobody had the slightest illusions that it would make a lasting
difference to the recipient.
Then, beginning some 135 years ago, the idea emerged that
philanthropy should have results, should make a difference, and
should result in a changed human being or changed community.
Let me emphasize that the old need is still there. If you look at
the Salvation Army soup kitchen, it is there to feed the needy.
Yes, the Salvation Army is also very busy trying to rehabilitate
homeless people on the street and drug addicts and ex-prisoners.
But the soup kitchen is there because people need it; they’re hun-
gry. It’s there to relieve suffering tonight. That’s all it does. And
that need is not going to go away.
Forty years ago, we suffered from the delusion that we could
somehow eliminate the need. The War on Poverty [launched in
1964] promised that within 10 years, poverty would be elimi-
nated. Well, it wasn’t quite that easy. And the need will always
be there for as long as anybody can foresee. But that is not the

[ 221