My experience agrees with yours.<p>I&#x27;ve worked at two companies whose clients have all been non-profits - this has put me in a position to witness the state of dozens of them.  I&#x27;ve also spent just as much time in the private sector, which has lent some contrast.<p>While there are definitely some very well-run non-profits, they are (in my experience) more the exception than the rule.  Having said that, I wouldn&#x27;t say the majority of private sector companies are well-run either.<p>But in general, the level of flakiness, obsessive behaviour, and eccentricness bordering on insanity was much, much higher at the non-profits.  I don&#x27;t necessarily think that it translated into poor performance as a rule, but at the very least it isn&#x27;t pretty.<p>The office parties are a hell of a lot more fun, however, and for my part I&#x27;d prefer the company of someone at a non-profit.  I have a theory that there&#x27;s just as much crazy behaviour at for-profits, it&#x27;s just less tolerated and therefore better hidden (rather than absent).