4 ms·
> Nobody can operate at scale as a non profit. Wikipedia seems like the biggest tech counterexample.
by jefftk 4y ago
> Nobody can operate at scale as a non profit.
Wikipedia seems like the biggest tech counterexample.
- ethbr0 4y agoWikipedia's labor costs are anomalously low.
- noirscape 4y agoWikipedia "works" as a non-profit but they are also 100% the Kings of deceptive marketing to get way more funding than they need to operate and blow most of it on stuff unrelated to Wikipedia or to an ever-growing endowment that supposedly already covers the site for several decades. Source: https://www.dailydot.com/debug/wikipedia-endownemnt-fundraising/ https://www.dailydot.com/debug/wikipedia-endownemnt-fundrais... // associated HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27339887 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27339887 For a more practical example; I moderate a wiki project with semi-decent traffic and a decent enough reputation and our operating costs are about ~3k each year (it's like a little more than that) if the donation rounds are any indication. The donations usually occur in November and we get funded within 3 weeks. In terms of expenses, it's really hosting and a small amount of money set aside for a WMF developer (independently) to maintain our custom extensions for the site. You don't need tons of money if you just want to stay solvent.
- jefftk 4y agoI agree with you, but this just makes the counterexample stronger. Wikipedia could be raising far less money and still successfully operate one of the biggest sites on the web.
- unity1001 4y agoAnd the only one. Who needs to beg every other year for money and risk going under even if they falter in being able to gather 2 years' of runway at any given point. Precisely how the non-profits were designed to be.
- jefftk 4y agoWikipedia is nowhere near faltering: they beg for money because this gets them money which they can use to run interesting things, but the basic work of operating the primary site is very easy to keep funded. Many non-profits don't need to fundraise publicly because they've lined up some sort of stable funding, but then you're naturally much less aware of their funding situation.
- unity1001 4y agoMozilla was also nowhere near faltering until a few years ago. Then suddenly they are on shaky ground. Such a model can work for stuff that people's lives dont depend on. But its not viable for people trusting their livelihood on them.
- __derek__ 4y agoThe Signal Foundation, Mozilla, and the EFF are other prominent examples.
- ryanbrunner 4y agoPlenty of successful business models rely at least partially on "begging for money". Universities and hospitals are two notable ones that rely pretty significantly on philanthropy.