If one of the principal reasons for choosing your product is an opportunity to maximise profits, then an organisation that doesn't actually have that motivation arguably derives less value from it and logically ought to be less willing to pay market price. Same applies for discounts "for academic use" etc. Price discrimination isn't just about assuming a particular entity has less funds, period.
Whilst nonprofit != charity it's also perfectly reasonable to make the value judgement that it's fair to implicitly subsidise social goals at the expense of other clients' shareholder returns. Provided no laws are being flaunted, I can offer discounts on a service I provide to people for virtually any whether its because I believe in their mission, like them on a personal level, respect their OAP or veteran status or just desperately want their money. One of my local curry houses gives discounts to Arsenal season ticket holders. Nobody should feel _obliged_ to make these concessions, but when many companies do makes sense for nonprofits to ask the question. I bet 37signals get plenty of emails from startups and small businesses asking for a dose of sympathy and lower prices too.
Sometimes, where you have a high margin business and close competitors that will discount, it makes sense to give them what they ask for too.
I think a lot of the academic discounts are an attempt to get lock-in and thus maximize profits over time.
If a budding artist gets used to Creative Suite (because it's cheap for them), or a new coder gets a cheap Mac, or a mechanic student gets a discount on SnapOn tools, all of those have a likely impact on their future purchases.
The discounts on Westlaw for law students in the late 1980s were certainly meant to gain lock-in. The law librarian who taught my law school class how to do online searching told us, "The company wants you to think of their product as heroin."
> If one of the principal reasons for choosing your product is an opportunity to maximise profits, then an organisation that doesn't actually have that motivation arguably derives less value from it and logically ought to be less willing to pay market price.
An NPO doesn't work that much differently than FPO in this regard. NPO does not mean they can just waste money, if they have an opportunity to be more productive and save save money, they are going to take it. While their salary is not directly tied the amount of money brought in, NPOs have boards that hire,fire, and set wages for employees just like any other business, and they do this based on performance.
If a non-profit is limited in the amount of good it does by its budget, then saving money will allow it to do more good, and the motivations are aligned.
Whilst nonprofit != charity it's also perfectly reasonable to make the value judgement that it's fair to implicitly subsidise social goals at the expense of other clients' shareholder returns. Provided no laws are being flaunted, I can offer discounts on a service I provide to people for virtually any whether its because I believe in their mission, like them on a personal level, respect their OAP or veteran status or just desperately want their money. One of my local curry houses gives discounts to Arsenal season ticket holders. Nobody should feel _obliged_ to make these concessions, but when many companies do makes sense for nonprofits to ask the question. I bet 37signals get plenty of emails from startups and small businesses asking for a dose of sympathy and lower prices too.
Sometimes, where you have a high margin business and close competitors that will discount, it makes sense to give them what they ask for too.