do you talk in terms of 'full cost recovery' like much of the third sector (i.e. making sure that you don't lose money on activities you deliver) or use the more traditional and private business understood 'profit and loss' (which shows where you spent you money in relation to delivering your activities and running the organisation overall).
It matters because of the worlds in which we exist increasingly inter-mix: speaking with procurement officers, they're used to private businesses so you need to use P&L - terms their accountants will understand. Similarly, if you're seeking loans, then lenders speak P&L as well.
My concern is that as a sector we constantly seem to be calling for a level playing field, to be treated on equal terms as every other type of organisation and group, and yet we then create our own special languages that don't match the systems and practices of the wider world.
Perhaps it time to stop being so precious about why we're special and get on with showing it in ways which anyone can understand by using their languages?
I think you are deluding yourself - unless you are totally cynical. The 'Co-operative Movement' is clearly providing the 'philosophical' cover for the total dismantling of the 'Welfare State'. In the process, the holier-than-thou, are seeking to ensure the 'deserving poor' are being profitably exploited.
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