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>I'm curious what Ghosts' bylaws are, how is it actually organized? I presume it's not a 501c(3) since it's engaged in commercial space and doesn't take charitable donations.

For one, it's not an American company, is it?



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Ghost CMS set the company up as a nonprofit:

> We set Ghost up as non-profit foundation so that it would always be true to its users, rather than shareholders or investors. Our legal constitution ensures that the company can never be bought or sold, and one hundred percent of our revenue is reinvested into the product and the community.

https://ghost.org/about/


Hm, I never realized ghost was non-profit....

btw Ghost is a not for profit organisation. Does that make any difference?

I'm a bit taken aback that it's a for-profit company. These spaces are generally community driven.

Ghost is based in the UK - where Charities can pay some people but, most notably, not the trustees who run it. Apologies for not making that clearer!

> My understanding is that they're registered as a charitable organization, not a non-profit.

That's impossible in the US; “charitable organizations”—501(c)(3)—are a subset of nonprofits—501(c).


> That's why it should probably be a government entity.

Or, you know, a non-profit organization.


> They can operate like any other non-profit and be subject to that set of rules, or they can be a regular corporation and be subject to a different set of rules.

Its pretty clear that OP just wants them to register as 501c3's or similar not force them to pay taxes in general


It seems odd to me that this is a for-profit company.

> I'm also tempted to say a business whose number one goal isn't making money for its owner and employees should probably be registered as a non-profit or a charity or something else, and not a corporation, but I guess there's no reason they couldn't be a corporation.

Um, what does "corporation" mean to you? Can you identify anything that you would call a "non-profit" that is not also a corporation?


> raised legitimate questions about their non-profit status and lack of non-profit related activity

What is "non-profit related activity"? IANAL but the only justification needed for non-profit designation is not being for-profit.

And maybe their structure with a for-profit subsidiary is up for debate because of this. But you don't get to be non-profit by doing "good stuff" like open sourcing things. You get it by investing all profits back into the business.

Evil Corp for Doing Evil could be a non-profit if it invested all its profits back into the business.


> some entities call themselves "nonprofit" but are shady enterprises

Aren't most?


> It should really remain not for profit if you want to be taken seriously at what you do. At least make it a foundation if it needs a legal entity :) And be really careful who you take money from and under which conditions.

That is the intention, and it says that in the blog article :).

> Eventually, we plan on creating a new legal organization designed around the community to ensure our long-term sustainability. This will take some careful planning and time to get right, but we’re confident we can prevent this from ever happening again, and keep us independent of any one team member.

Just to clarify, we plan to become a 501(c)(3) organization.

This was another thing Burung Hantu wasn't interested in.


> that were paid for by the taxpayers

What do taxpayers have to do with it? I thought it was just a for-profit company?


It's owned by a for-profit corporation.

> should the Foundation be a 501(c)(3) (a non-profit, in other words) or not?

This seems to imply that the US is the only place a foundation would be incorporated? Other jurisdictions may have more favourable legal regimes.


It's not supposed to be a company, it is supposed to be a non-profit organization with an altruistic goal.

If it's not possible maybe they shouldn't have set it up this way, but they did and here they are.


Are you guys a nonprofit? Some of the wording in the article made it seem like that was the case.

NB: Craigslist isn't a non-profit. It's a for-profit corporation, privately held, despite the .org registration.
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