A Beary View of the Four Sectors

Bear groups exist all around the world, including Australia. I believe they provide a place for the larger and hirsute gay man a place to be themselves in an LGBTIQ world where they feel like they do not belong. In fact, where I have spent the majority of my LGBTIQ life: member for a year, committee member for Harbour City Bears less than a year until I suddenly became the secretary (that's a story and a half) and stayed there for the next 5 years. It lead me to doing my Graduate Certificate in Not-for-profit and Social Enterprise Management, leading me to do my Masters.

During my Masters degree, I utilised my many experiences gained through those five years. So, lots of my additions to discussions in many of the classes were from a LGBTIQ NFP perspective - which I only think for most of my time I was the only student from that arena. To understand complex business theory, I had to apply my experience in the LGBTIQ NFP executive board knowledge to what I was learning to make it stick.

The Four Sectors

One of the ideas that I had to wrestle with is the concept that the Bear groups fit in the traditional model of the four sectors. In business theory, there are four inter-connected segments of the economy. The most well known sectors are the public and private sectors. The third sector, the not-for-profit sector, is where these bear groups should fit. The fourth sector, lesser thought of sector is the household. This post will introduce the concept of the four sectors and why they are different from each other - the interactions between these sectors will be discussed in other posts.

The Not-For-Profit Sector

A bear forward example: Harbour City Bears

The term "Not-for-profit" wrong is a usually used as a misnomer - it not necessarily that organisations that are NFPs cannot make profit and that they should show $0 on their profit-loss statement, it is that profit isn't their predominant goal and exist not for profit. These organisation can make profit if they ensure it is put into forwarding their aims. These organisations are social-aims-first based as they give back to the community in some way. They do not operate for their shareholders or members to make a profit, even when the organisation fails to exist - and there are clauses in their consitution that state this. However, there are not a lot of regulations or standards in this space in comparison to other sectors, meaning the scope for destructive leadership and unethical practices can run rife if you get a board that are there for the wrong reasons.

The Private Sector

A bear forward example: Kinselas & The Bank Hotel

This sector is also known as the business sector or for-profit sector. The difference between this sector and the not-for-profit sector is exactly what it says on the tin - these businesses exist to make profit and can distribute it in any way they see fit - within reason as they are pretty regulated. The ways that these organisations make money can be ethically or morally dubious even with these boundaries, and provide short term gains to shareholders but ultimately these businesses fail and/or are caught out and have to pay (hopefully) significant fines.

The Government Sector

A bear forward example: The City of Sydney Council (local) & NSW Fair Trading (State)

There's not much to say about this sector - again it does exactly what it says on the tin. They are the ones that usually set up the regulations in the other sectors - but may rely on not-for-profits to fill in gaps that they cannot provide (more on that later). The other term of Non-governmental organisation (or NGO) can be used for the NFP sector, but I have issues with that term as well because private sector is also technically NGOs as they inherently are not part of the government.

The Household Sector

A bear forward example: You, your friends and chosen family

This fourth sector is odd, as it's different for each and every person, but I think is the most important and influential in economic decisions. Think about family and friends and what decisions you make as a group.

• Where are you going to go for dinner and catch up before you go to a dance party?

• Will everyone be wearing their leather harness or kilt this evening?

• Are they supportive of our group and our practices?

All of these decisions can be tied to an economic case and can be modified by your own attributes and qualities of those around you. Each decision you make has the potential to have an effect in other sectors that you take part in - and as each sector is interconnected, you are a part of all of these sectors.

Conclusion

Harbour City Bears is a not-for-profit organisation simply based off the clauses in their constitution regarding use of funds and that their aims are social-forward. They aren't a private business they aren't built to make profit for their shareholders, nor are they governmental as they do not make or enforce laws regarding the flow of money. The Bears are made up of those in the household sector, who have power in choosing them rather than supporting another cause - through becoming a financial member or volunteering for the organisation. All four sectors effect the way that HCB make decisions - the bear forward examples given from those sectors effect the way that HCB makes decisions, postively and negatively in very different ways comparatively to other not-for profits, which will be explored in later posts.