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While not a post about user experience per se, I figure that as it’s about our user experience of life, it’s relevant to this blog. That, and I’ve really got nowhere else to post it.

What if we could save the world by buying stuff? It’s a thought that popped into my head this evening and the more I think about it, the more it seems like a winner. It seems odd that it hasn’t already been done, so I’m sure there’s something glaringly obvious that I’m missing. Perhaps you, dear reader, can tell me what it is. If not, then let’s do it.

The idea is that non profit organisations operate as normal businesses, with all profits going to charity. I’m not talking about your traditional NPO that does work for a particular cause, I’m taking about a normal business that is different only because of where the profits go.

What is stopping a business like this from operating in every sector and industry? Look at your big banks, they’re make billions of dollars profit – even during these tough times. Westpac’s net profit for the six months to March 31 2009 was $2.175 billion!

From a consumer point of view, I reckon people would be queueing up to move their business to organisations that gave their profits to charity. I’d bank with “The Charity Bank” as long as I knew it was a well run and regulated bank and that $2.175 billion was going to charity every 6 months. I’d do my grocery shopping at Worldworths. I’d stay at Shareiton hotels. I’d by petrol from Better Planet (BP).

And, as far as competition goes, prices would be lower than those of ‘normal’ competitors because NPOs don’t have to pay income tax like ‘normal’ companies do and there’s no shareholder pressure to raise prices or fees to make a bigger profit. You’d get a better deal as a customer AND you’d be helping people by purchasing.

With an NPO operating like this in every market, industry and sector, there’d be so much money going to good causes that we could do something about distributing wealth more effectively and giving to people all over the world.

Why does this seem so obvious? What am I missing?