Not-For-Profit organisations?

Question

Need help, how do not-for-profit organisations provide for needs and wants better than for-profit organisations?
I kind of understand the needs part, needs are essentials such as health or education, but how do not for profit organisations provide for wants? Wants are things that imporve the qaulity of life such as tvs and pcs ect.
Thanks

Answer 1

what about charities that re-cycle electronics, clothes and household goods to the needy both here and abroad. They are not for profit organisations.

Answer 2

In this world we have fewer 'products' than we have demand for those products (we can't all drive around in a Rolls Royce ..)

In a Capitalism system, Resources are allocated to product production based on price (resources cost money - the more the resources needed the higher the product cost - so a high price must be set which only a few customers can afford to pay - this prevents (for example) all the worlds steel being used to make Rolls Royce's).

If you have 2 organisations that set a prices, the organisation with lower 'costs' can offer the lower price. Profit is a cost - so a 'not for profit' organisation should have lower prices.

Of course, in practise, many other factors effect pricing (for example, the efficiency with which the organisation converts raw material into product) - and over the last 50 years it has been conclusively proved that 'not for profit' organisations (eg. Soviet Union) are totally incapable of supplying 'wants' at ANY price...

Answer 3

why do wants have to be material things (like TVs or PCs).

i think you will find that wants are feelings. people want to feel secure, safe, loved etc. owning material objects only works because in society we judge people by their apparent wealth (even you did it assuming wants were things) and so people want to feel they are doing well and owning nice things makes them feel better.

see - its all feelings.

i am deputy chair for a small charity. our members NEED to know where to get information on their rare condition, but they WANT to talk to others who have been through the same experiance. they WANT to know they are not alone. they WANT to know they will come out the other end. they WANT to be able to talk to someone about their childs condition without having to spend the first 20 minutes explaining exactly what it is, how it affects them, what the treatments are etc etc etc.

you could say they want a cure, but more importantly they want help with their feelings. having a TV isnt going to help them pin down a 3 year old and stick a needle in them to give them life saving medicene and it certainly isnt going to help with the feelings of guilt for doing it (even though it is life saving, hurting your kids upsets most people). having me on the other end of a phone, listening to them cry at 3am might just help them get through it.