Last week (coincidentally while on my way to a conference on healthcare and emerging technology), I heard James Unland, editor of the Journal of Health Care Finance, talking on NPR about whether or not it was appropriate for hospitals to be spending money on advertising. As a consultant to healthcare organizations—many of whom have successfully and responsibly used marketing to improve inaccurate perceptions, attract funding and compete for patients—I was a bit surprised by the naiveté of Mr. Unland. Non-profit organizations or not, hospitals who do business in a free market economy (as they do here in this US) must promote themselves to survive. Put another way, hospitals and other healthcare organizations must be financially sound to fulfill their mission to serve their patients. And marketing and advertising is an essential component to their success.

His interview reminded me of another presentation I heard just a couple of weeks ago at the Washington State Non-Profit Conference. There, social entrepreneur and Harvard Business Review blogger Dan Pallotta eloquently argued for new standards by which we judge non-profit organizations. His argument was that our collective perception that non-profits should operate from a different rule book, one that prohibits them from adequately competing with their corporate counterparts by spending and investing in marketing and other types of administrative costs, limits their ability to do good in the world. His theory is that this stems from our Puritanical need justify our greed and desire for profit with charitable efforts, bi-furcating our work into that which is for good and that which is for evil.

Mr. Pollatta’s argument, one that I support, is that it doesn’t have to be so black and white. Organizations that do good can also leverage the success-promoting principles of for-profit enterprises to increase their capacity to fulfill their mission. Should we hold hospitals to a different standard than their insurance plan or pharmaceutical counterparts? I don’t think so.

-Briana Marrah

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