Why is the value motive so important in socially responsible enterprise? Commercial entities have a clear and single-minded objective: profit. Successful business is based on the understanding that all other motivations are subordinate to this principle, including socially conscious behavior. If behaving in a socially conscious manner contributes positively to the bottom line, it is done; if it contributes negatively, than it generally is not. Despite all the corporate social responsibility programs set up by industry, government regulatory bodies and consumer associations are living testaments to this reality. It's no accident that many corporations set up independent foundations to engage in socially responsible activities on their behalf since they are incongruent with the best business practices. What I am describing is not necessarily a bad thing. Commercial enterprise owes its success to the simple and elegant principles that underlie the profit motive. Unfortunately, engaging in socially responsible behavior often represents an unacceptable compromise to the profit motive.

There is an assumption in some quarters that a commercial entity practicing "enlightened self-interest" (e.g., doing something socially responsible because it benefits both the community and the bottom line) is the best vehicle for achieving a values-based social mission. After all, it has the funding, talent and focus. But enlightened self-interest can too easily become an oxymoron when self-interest overtakes enlightenment. This is the reason values-based not-for-profits exist in the first place. A well-functioning NGO has ethical behavior and social consciousness as a core principle of its mission. An NGO's constituents support it without questioning ulterior motivations or feeling exploited. This relationship in turn strengthens the NGO's value and credibility as it forms trusted networks and gains a better understanding of the problems and potential solutions. NGOs and their constituencies cannot compromise their values if they wish to carry out their mission. The NGO value motive is comparable to a commercial enterprise's profit motive. Just as a for-profit cannot afford to sacrifice its profit motive lest the value of the enterprise suffer, so too NGOs cannot sacrifice their value motives for the very same reason.

The value motive of an NGO is never as clear as the profit motivation that guides commercial enterprise. Values-based missions — fostering democracy or alleviating poverty, for example — are always subject to interpretation. One could argue that because the NGO missions tend to be broad and subject to interpretation, compromising them would be easy, as any compromise would itself be subject to interpretation. Those who have worked in the development world will agree, no doubt, that when it comes to sacrificing mission for profit the distinctions are quite clear. An organization that does this quickly loses credibility.

Successful socially responsible and sustainable NGO ventures attract interest and investment because they achieve their mission without sacrificing their values. People and institutions are always looking to support organizations that tackle social issues successfully. The prerequisite for profitability in these groups flows from meeting their values-based mission first. If one applied a conventional business analysis to these ventures at the outset, they would never be implemented. That's because traditional business models are, obviously, based on a profit and not a values analysis. Most for-profit ventures would never engage in these socially responsible activities from the start because the mission or constituencies served are not intrinsically profitable. From a business perspective, these ventures would only achieve profitability with a retooling significant enough to change either the values-based mission or the constituency served, thereby compromising its originally intended mission.

If one looks at these same ventures from the values perspective, their mission bases and sustainability potential become more obvious as long as the social mission is achieved successfully first. A traditional business analysis without a values analysis is useless in determining the success or failure of a values-based enterprise.

It stands to reason that an entity engaged in a socially responsible mission would share the same values as the mission it is engaged in. A commercial enterprise that does not count these principles in its core mission, or would compromise them for profit, by definition is not the best vehicle for fulfilling a values-based mission. It is actually easier for a successful not-for-profit organization to adapt a revenue-generating model than it is for a commercial entity to combine a value- and profit-based mission. A not-for-profit NGO can avoid compromising its principles simply by not engaging in revenue-generating activities antithetical to its mission. On the other hand, for-profits with socially responsible missions have an inherent conflict. They may very well have to compromise their mission in some instances to stay solvent. Or they may go bankrupt trying to achieve their mission.