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Can you go into more detail on how the Foundation and the company are separated? I see a lot of doubt in this thread, and while some of it seems to come from a

Can you go into more detail on how the Foundation and the company are separated? I see a lot of doubt in this thread, and while some of it seems to come from a confusion of the two entities, the rest seems to acknowledge their separation, but doubt that it will protect the foundation in the long run. So, what would interest me would be how funding & staffing of the foundation works, if there are arrangements to ensure access to low-price material for the activities you list and such. Edit: a link to an FAQ or such will do just nicely of course ;)

pbronez 5y ago
the article says that the Foundation owns the Company. Wonder how that changes when the company IPOs... maybe the Foundation retains majority ownership? "The Raspberry Pi Foundation, formed in 2009, is a registered charity with a goal of putting “the power of computing and digital making into the hands of people all over the world.” The famous eponymous SBC was designed to be affordable and champion programming in schools, hoping to repeat the home computer boom of the 1980s. Raspberry Pi Trading Ltd is a wholly-owned subsidiary responsible for the engineering and trading operations of the foundation."
KaiserPro 5y ago
> I see a lot of doubt in this thread, and while some of it seems to come from a confusion of the two entities, the rest seems to acknowledge their separation, but doubt that it will protect the foundation in the long run. There are two[1] companies registered, the foundation, which is the oldest, and the trading company. From what I can see the foundation appear to get a significant portion of the profits from the trading company: https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/06758215/filing-history https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/c... so long as that continues, then everything will be fine.
- Fnoord 5y ago
  This setup can be used for good or bad. It can be used to for getting subsidies, it can also be used to funnel money from the non-profit to the for-profit, or to put everything which is for-profit on the for-profit, or to market itself non-profit while the main thing is the for-profit. There's examples of each of these, but I don't know whether it would apply here.

pbronez 5y ago

the article says that the Foundation owns the Company. Wonder how that changes when the company IPOs... maybe the Foundation retains majority ownership? "The Raspberry Pi Foundation, formed in 2009, is a registered charity with a goal of putting “the power of computing and digital making into the hands of people all over the world.” The famous eponymous SBC was designed to be affordable and champion programming in schools, hoping to repeat the home computer boom of the 1980s. Raspberry Pi Trading Ltd is a wholly-owned subsidiary responsible for the engineering and trading operations of the foundation."

KaiserPro 5y ago

> I see a lot of doubt in this thread, and while some of it seems to come from a confusion of the two entities, the rest seems to acknowledge their separation, but doubt that it will protect the foundation in the long run. There are two[1] companies registered, the foundation, which is the oldest, and the trading company. From what I can see the foundation appear to get a significant portion of the profits from the trading company: https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/06758215/filing-history https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/c... so long as that continues, then everything will be fine.

Fnoord 5y ago
This setup can be used for good or bad. It can be used to for getting subsidies, it can also be used to funnel money from the non-profit to the for-profit, or to put everything which is for-profit on the for-profit, or to market itself non-profit while the main thing is the for-profit. There's examples of each of these, but I don't know whether it would apply here.