Idealist Guide Post #1

The four characteristics of a non-profit that stand out to me before even reading the articles are:

1. A non-profit is for the betterment of the community they are in, based upon things like the organizations mission and vision statement.
2. Non-profits are built on donations, fundraising and grants and that money is then to put back into the community.
3. Volunteers play a big role in non-profits
4. There is a wide variety of topics and issues that non-profits can cover from advocacy of a certain group to things like conservation and trade businesses.

After reading the first article, Idealist Guide Intro and Chapter1, the four big things I took away were fairly similar to my first four.

1. The nonprofit sector is comprised of organizations that are trying to create a better world, as defined by their missions. Nonprofits provide opportunities for people to invest in and give back to their communities, raise awareness of issues, and help foster a sense of community and trust. 
2. The nonprofit sector’s means of reaching its goals are as varied as the tens of thousands of mission statements that drive organizations’ work. This also means that a nonprofit can serve a niche group without worrying about addressing all of the public’s needs.
3. Nonprofit organizations also need people to take care of finances, human resources, website management, maintenance, outreach, and leadership. In addition, organizations often have indirect service roles like volunteer managers, fundraisers, and grant writers.
4. Nonprofits serve communities, address community problems, and build community assets in such diverse ways that there is no simple categorization for the work that they do.

I think a big question for me after looking at the Non-profit sector infograph and a question I'm sure others have is if non-profits make up 10% of the workforce and contribute so much to the economy why are employees of so many non-profits still not getting paid well?