The Greyston Foundation prides itself on its big-city (New York) entrepreneurial drive, without having greed as its primary motivation.

The Yonkers, N.Y.-based foundation uses an aggressive business planning strategy to build up an $8 million enterprise that houses hundreds of needy people, operates a bakery that provides jobs to more than 50 people, and runs both a day-care center and a health center, Reuters News Service reports.

Despite its not-for-profit orientation, the key to Greyston's success is its businesslike philosophy. Foundation officials constantly strategize, seek expansion and try to collect as much revenue as possible to help complete the organization's mission, Reuters reports.

The foundation was launched in 1982 by aerospace engineer-turned-Buddhist monk Bernard Glassman. In 1993, Glassman turned Greyston over to Charles Leif, who has announced ambitious plans to "grow" the organization with a variety of for-profit and nonprofit partners.

Greyston's philosophy is to create self-sufficient funding so that it may concentrate more closely on its goals. The foundation isn't the first such organization to adopt this model, however.

Seattle's Pioneer Human Services and Newark, N.J.-based New Community Corp. have both established long track records as "hybrid" nonprofits that use aggressive business models to do good in society, the news service reports.

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