Speaking at the University of the South (Sewanee) today, Skip Rutherford, Dean of the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service, said: “Nonprofits have been, are, and will continue to be economic engines, but just haven’t been recognized like industrial plants and factories.”
Rutherford, who coordinated the $165 million Clinton Presidential Library project in downtown Little Rock from 1997-2004, spoke as part of the Sewanee’s Graham Executive Lecture Series and noted a recent study by the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce, showing over $3 billion in economic impact since the Clinton Library’s opening in 2004.
One of the main reasons President Clinton chose the downtown site for his presidential library and a school of public service, Rutherford said, was because he wanted to help revitalize the city’s downtown area, “It certainly has done that,” he said.
“Before coming to the Clinton School as Dean, I came from the private sector where profit was a good word and where results, outcomes, and bottom lines mattered. I still believe profit is a good word whether it is proceeded by the three letters ‘f-o-r’ or ‘n-o-n’, ” Rutherford said.
He cited Westrock Coffee based in Little Rock, Nisolo Shoes, founded by a recent University of Mississippi graduate whose father lives in Arkansas, and TOMS Shoes as examples of companies that both “do good and do well.”
According to Rutherford, the non-profit sector is now the third largest employer in the United States.
“Where would we be without hospitals, colleges and universities, foundations, NGOs, art centers, and museums?” he asked. “They all do much good, they also employ many people and should be full partners in addressing the economic challenges and demands of the 21st century.”
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