Doing good or just as bad? Nonprofit ambiguity in our neoliberal age

Abstract

This essay examines the ambiguity encompassing nonprofit organizations implementing anti-poverty programs in the context of neoliberal reforms. Despite the "do good" image that made them an ideal alternative to the discredited welfare state, research on nonprofits in the context of neoliberal reforms has exposed the political ambiguity underlying their actual effects: Some contribute to wellbeing and social change, while others further neoliberal forms of governance and power. This ambiguity demands that research on nonprofits examines, rather than assume, the relation between the "do good" claims of this sector and the actual effects of their social interventions. This essay builds on and contributes to this critical approach to nonprofits through the case study of a nation nonprofit organization engaged in anti-poverty community development in Puerto Rico: Social Action of Puerto Rico, Inc. (ASPRI, for its acronym in Spanish). The study discusses the policy reforms that led ASPRI‘s long-standing anti-poverty program to become entangled with the logic of neoliberal governance. By questioning the assumed transparency between ASPRI‘s "do good" claims and the effects of its programs on the population served, this study demystifies the assumed virtues of the nonprofit alternative to the welfare state.