Community Impact NC (CINC) celebrated 40 years of operation in 2022.
From volunteer leadership and grassroots strategy implementation to a fully staffed, State serving, fiscally sound organization, CINC has prospered, and thereby so have the communities it serves.
The Non-Profit Industrial Complex (NPIC) has been an ever-present consideration for the organization and has been staved off in a variety of ways, but most importantly, by staying mission-focused. CINC compares all funding streams, scopes of work, partnerships, and research used against its mission. This results in a slow, steady, steadfast path that cultivates consistency and accountability, which is readily available and enjoyed by those we support. The NPIC is a network of connections between the State (or local, state, and federal governments), foundations of the owning classes, Non-Profit/Non-Governmental Organizations, social service, and social justice organizations that lead to the monitoring, management, and daily control of political movements (Beyond the Non-Profit Industrial Complex, 2018).
Additionally, the NPIC may use non-profits to*:
- monitor and control social justice movements
- divert public funds into private hands through foundations
- manage and control dissent
- reroute activist energies into career-based modes of organizing rather than mass-based modes capable of actually transforming society
- permit corporations to cover up their exploitative and colonial work practices through “philanthropic” work
One example of the NPIC would be a company producing products that harmfully impacted the environment and then may donate money to an environmental group or promoting a climate-change awareness campaign to deflect criticism and maintain profits.
By living in our values as an organization, which are integrity, kindness, and honesty, CINC is able to hold strong in uncertainty and thrive in the ever-evolving evidence-based, data-driven, politically bureaucratic landscape of our field.
Mission drift is a common issue among non-profits in order to secure funding, grow services, and/or be seen as relevant. However, the way that it plays into the NPIC is dangerous and precipitates power imbalances between communities and non-profits, ultimately impacting and disenfranchising our most vulnerable people. It is possible for non-profits to live outside the industrial complex. It is possible for those same non-profits to be successful in their efforts, fiscally sustainable, and respected for their consistency and careful curation of people-focused people-focused efforts.
CINC’s mission is to work in partnership with communities to bridge gaps through direct support, evidence-based and innovative practices, and policy to minimize and prevent the harm caused by substance misuse. Invaluable to staying mission-driven is a dedicated board of directors, carefully cultivated to drive the organization’s mission and executive leadership that can keep the mission and humanity of the issues being addressed as the first priority. These two components over the last 40 years have made Community Impact NC the successful organization it is today. We look forward to serving NC for the next 40 years!
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*This piece is meant to bring awareness to the NPIC and to strong, mission-driven non-profits who do not wish to further power imbalances.
