4 ms·
> It's impossible to run an organization at zero capital buffer perpetually (see: even Wikimedia likes to have a capital reserve). That's a great way to end up
by taejo 8y ago
> It's impossible to run an organization at zero capital buffer perpetually (see: even Wikimedia likes to have a capital reserve). That's a great way to end up bankrupt. What you're suggesting is well beyond absurd.
And yet, Wikimedia is a non-profit. So is Harvard. Non-profit doesn't mean you can't have a capital reserve. It only means you don't pay that capital reserve out to shareholders.
> Profit is inherently necessary so that when inevitable bad things happen, you can afford to absorb them.
Some of the longest-lasting institutions in the world are non-profit.
- klank 8y ago> Some of the longest-lasting institutions in the world are non-profit. Is it just some or is it all? Honest question, the only very long lasting institutions I can think of are not for-profit.
- taejo 8y agoThere are a handful of still-running for-profit businesses that were founded before 1000, which I consider to good enough: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_companies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_companies There are, of course, religious institutions that are older.