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Aren't all the ivy league schools (and most if not all prestigious universities) non-profits? I assume they have a bit more to their mission than just investing

Aren't all the ivy league schools (and most if not all prestigious universities) non-profits? I assume they have a bit more to their mission than just investing in alumns who will generate returns in the form of endowments.

fennecfoxen 14y ago
Just because it's a non-profit doesn't mean the institution isn't out for all the money it can get its hands on. It means that there aren't owners who are able to get the profits distributed to them in some form. But having more money rolling in means a lot to the careers of college leadership, even if they don't own the university - they can expect more prestige and power, distributing travel grants to faculty in the underwater basket-weaving department and whatnot... and generally buffing their resumé in case any other interesting college wants to hire them away.
bsenftner 14y ago
Sorry, but "non-profit" does not mean altruistic. It's an exploited tax dodge a huge proportion of the time. Just look at the huge salaries in any successful non-profit, and you know they are not what they position themselves as.
- binxbolling 14y ago
  This is not even slightly accurate and I hope most people can see your post as the trolling that it is.
wallflower 14y ago
It has been argued that Harvard is basically an unregulated hedge fund attached to a university. http://www.cnbc.com/id/100291522 http://www.cnbc.com/id/100291522
jseliger 14y ago
>Aren't all the ivy league schools (and most if not all prestigious universities) non-profits? Yes, but nonprofits still act like businesses with the exception that they don't return money to shareholders. I'm part of a grant writing consulting firm and wrote a blog post inspired by a previous HN post like yours: "Why Nonprofits Are More Like Businesses Than You Realize" (http://blog.seliger.com/2012/09/02/why-nonprofits-are-more-like-businesses-than-you-realize/ http://blog.seliger.com/2012/09/02/why-nonprofits-are-more-l...) that explains what working with and around nonprofits is like.

fennecfoxen 14y ago

Just because it's a non-profit doesn't mean the institution isn't out for all the money it can get its hands on. It means that there aren't owners who are able to get the profits distributed to them in some form. But having more money rolling in means a lot to the careers of college leadership, even if they don't own the university - they can expect more prestige and power, distributing travel grants to faculty in the underwater basket-weaving department and whatnot... and generally buffing their resumé in case any other interesting college wants to hire them away.

bsenftner 14y ago

Sorry, but "non-profit" does not mean altruistic. It's an exploited tax dodge a huge proportion of the time. Just look at the huge salaries in any successful non-profit, and you know they are not what they position themselves as.

binxbolling 14y ago
This is not even slightly accurate and I hope most people can see your post as the trolling that it is.

wallflower 14y ago

It has been argued that Harvard is basically an unregulated hedge fund attached to a university. http://www.cnbc.com/id/100291522 http://www.cnbc.com/id/100291522

jseliger 14y ago

>Aren't all the ivy league schools (and most if not all prestigious universities) non-profits? Yes, but nonprofits still act like businesses with the exception that they don't return money to shareholders. I'm part of a grant writing consulting firm and wrote a blog post inspired by a previous HN post like yours: "Why Nonprofits Are More Like Businesses Than You Realize" (http://blog.seliger.com/2012/09/02/why-nonprofits-are-more-like-businesses-than-you-realize/ http://blog.seliger.com/2012/09/02/why-nonprofits-are-more-l...) that explains what working with and around nonprofits is like.