The Non-Profit Industrial Complex (NPIC)

While most people believe that non-profit are doing great public work, these organizations are often contributing to the increase of elitism and capitalist forms through corporate influence. Non-profit industrial complex (NPIC) is as a “set of symbolic relationships that link political and financial technologies of state and owning class control with surveillance over public political ideology, including and especially emergent progressive and leftist social movement” (Smith 8). This simply means that NPIC offers a space where corporations can control and authorize social justice movements through their financial support. It permits public monies to fall in the control of private corporation through foundations. The nonprofit industrial complex …show more content…
Smith claims how NPIC, “encourages us to think of social justice organizing as a career; that is, you do the work if you can get paid for it” (Smith 10). College Track is an example of a career-focused organization where the focus is more on pleasing the funders and not students from underserved communities. When I was a member of College Track my sophomore year of high school, the space was all about student needs and building student-faculty relationship. However, that vision has changed as more foundations started funding the program and the pressure to uphold a certain image to maintain the money has shifted the climate for College Track former students. Whenever I go to college track, there is a lack of faculty-student relationship because faculties are too engrossed with keeping up the “life changing” image of College Track that they do not have time for the students. Most events that College Track host focuses on attracting sponsors and not on addressing the low-recruitment of people of color in higher education. I feel like College Track is all about the promotion of “Fund us and we’ll put your money in good use”. It’s really sad how corporations use their money as a way to distract people from mobilizing the community and challenging capitalist …show more content…
People bear the responsibility of social movement while working within the NPIC range. This NPIC range often places limitation and authority on what they can and cannot perform as well as contributing to elitism in the society. It’s often difficult to dismantle this industrial complex when corporations are rooted in a capitalist ideology. This ideology is usually to shift the focus of progressive movement to be fundraisers and not organizers. However, one way to challenge this NPIC system is for nonprofit organizations to depend on volunteers through the mobilization of the community and not within corporate foundations. In this way, they will be flexible with their events and their focus is not so much on the money, but more on their mission and