Are low-paid nonprofit workers to be lauded for their personal sacrifices? Or is such work actually selfish by nature?

Jeremy Gregg, development director at Central Dallas Ministries, writes on his blog, The Raiser’s Razor, blasts his peers for talking about how much more they could earn if they worked in the business world.

In what he terms “the selfishness of the supposed sacrifice of charity workers,” Mr. Gregg contends that it would be a sacrifice for him not to work for a charity, with its many non-monetary benefits, as opposed to the other way around.

“The opportunity costs [of working for a charity] are minimal in this regard when we look at the enormous gains we have made in other areas: seeing the impact of our work every day, feeling … ownership over our actions, reveling in the glorious triumphs of lives changed through a series of events that we set in motion … we make no sacrifices to be here,” Mr. Gregg writes. “Indeed, we might even be seen to be selfish.”

What are your thoughts? Are nonprofit workers making sacrifices or acting out of self-interest? Or perhaps some mix of both? Click on the comments link below this post to share your thoughts.