Yesterday, we looked at an interesting phenomenon.
Many pro-life philanthropists who made their money by executing successful business strategies do not use their acquired business acumen when evaluating whether or not a PHC can compete effectively against Planned Parenthood.
What could explain this?
I have interacted with many pro-life philanthropists over the years so I believe I have some insights to explain this.
Simply, I believe that many pro-life philanthropists do not view pro-life as a competitive industry, but instead as a social justice movement.
In other words, they don’t make a distinction between the “Pro-Life Movement,” and “Pro-Life Business.”
The Pro-Life Movement is a social justice movement based primarily on fighting for legal protection of the right to life for preborn human beings.
It is a human rights movement. A social justice movement.
The Pro-Life Business Industry, on the other hand, is represented by service providers called Pregnancy Help Centers (PHCs) who are engaged in a competitive market battle against service providers in the Abortion Industry, led by Planned Parenthood.
While the motivation to work in the Pro-Life Business Industry is almost certainly driven by one’s commitment to the Pro-Life Movement, that commitment does not necessarily equate to one being measurably effective at winning the competitive market battle against Planned Parenthood.
Unfortunately, many pro-life philanthropists don’t see the distinction.
They view their support of PHCs as supporting the Pro-Life Movement.
They tend to view the work that PHCs do as ministry, and though some philanthropists may still expect PHCs they fund to achieve measurable impact of some kind, very few, if any, view that measurable impact in terms of winning more clients than the local abortion providers, as shown by increases in market share.
I do not believe that pro-life philanthropists are making a deliberate choice to view PHCs as ministry instead of viewing them as competitive businesses.
They are simply accepting how PHCs have positioned themselves in the minds of the philanthropists.
And because the vast majority of PHCs are led by those who have strong credentials as social justice warriors in the Pro-Life Movement, rather than as successful business leaders, they market themselves to pro-life philanthropists as belonging to a segment within the Pro-Life Movement.
I believe this is a critical mistake because, again, the Pro-Life Movement focuses on the preborn human being, whereas the Pro-Life Business Industry focuses on influencing the decision maker, the pregnant woman, in her choice between competing services: abortion services or choose life services.
I am not claiming that leaders of PHCs make this positioning mistake consciously.
I am claiming that PHCs should classify themselves as competitive businesses that are not contained within the Pro-Life Movement, but instead are motivated by the Pro-Life Movement.
With a correct understanding of PHCs as competitive businesses, pro-life philanthropists would then hold PHCs accountable for measurable market success against their competitors in the abortion industry.
Regards,
Brett