[wpietri]

There are plenty of non-profits that have some commercial-ish operations. E.g. hospital gift shop profits often go to the hospital, and plenty of museums sell related stuff. But generally it's a terrible idea.

Business is hard, and it's a different kind of hard than charities normally deal with. Being good at 2 things is more than twice as hard at being good at one thing, so I think charities are wise to generally stick with being non-commercial.

[SatvikBeri]

There are also psychological reasons why this is difficult-humans tend to view transactions as either social or commercial, but not both. One famous anecdote is how a daycare was struggling with parents constantly arriving late to pick up their children. The daycare started charging a penalty fee, and late pickups actually went up-because previously, the parents had viewed it as a social obligation, which was more of a motivator for them.