An entrepreneurial image of the poor is becoming quite popular among nonprofit organizations, especially with the growing use of micro-finance models. The present study explores the promotional materials of a religious, charitable, nonprofit organization—Heifer International—whose mission is to eradicate poverty. The findings suggest that the organization’s portrayal of the poor “pasteurizes” the image of the poor and positions them as happy, healthy workers who exist as “enterprising” people on the cusp of capitalism. In addition, the nonprofit positions itself on the cusp of capitalism by way of three strategies: perspective by incongruity, dissoi logoi/kairos, and the art of illusion.
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