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Consider this as a nonprofit startup that has just raised a pre-seed round. The current size of $700K is indeed immaterial, as our plan is to scale it significa

Consider this as a nonprofit startup that has just raised a pre-seed round. The current size of $700K is indeed immaterial, as our plan is to scale it significantly in the coming years. The closest real-world comparable to what we are building is the Wikimedia Endowment, whose former Director is among OSE’s advisors. Like Wikimedia, we aim to be supported not only by large donations but also by contributions from large community — in our case, 150M+ GitHub users. Our target audience is diverse - from highly successful founders to everyday developers. The Open Source Endowment is prepared to accept donations in both cash and stock from these groups. While 5% of equity may be too much, 1% seems achievable. I am personally ready to commit 1% of the carried interest from my own VC fund to the endowment.

verdverm 7mo ago
Running a non-profit with the mentality of SV, what could go wrong? Definitely something I will actively avoid after parent comment
- dewey 7mo ago
  Seems better like the current state...of there not being anything like that? Perfect is the enemy of good.
  - deleted 7mo ago
    [deleted]
  - verdverm 7mo ago
    There are many existing projects like this, I'm not going to pick the one started by a former VC Ask if those have not changed things, why would a VC run thing make things better? The last 2 decades have shown us what VC centeredness has brought us
    - whit537 7mo ago
      Former VC!? KV ... you gonna take that lying down? :P > There are many existing projects like this Also please link, we're not aware of any other endowments exclusively focused on Open Source.
      - verdverm 7mo ago
        Look at OP's profile: https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=kvinogradov https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=kvinogradov https://runacap.com/ https://runacap.com/
    - dewey 7mo ago
      Can you point out some existing ones with traction? I'm looking more at the list of people who are on board with it ("Trusted by open source creators" section) than who is actually running it, which I think is more important to get buy in than whoever is pulling admin strings in the back.
      - verdverm 7mo ago
        > Can you point out some existing ones with traction? That's kind of the point, there are none. The question is why? If people cannot even click a button to support when it's right there... I don't think people coming out of the VC world are going to fix it, call me cynical if you like
        dewey 7mo ago
        You said: "There are many existing projects like this", directly followed by "That's kind of the point, there are none." when asked for an example. Which one is it? It's seems like a pretty thankless fundraising job but one where having connections to companies, banks and experience with distributing funds comes in handy. What's in it for a VC? I'd assume incoming deal flow and connections to new open source companies. Seems more promising to me than a technical open source maintainer stepping up to do it on the side. But time will tell.
        verdverm 7mo ago
        there are many existing, none with meaningful traction it looks like there are no direct connections, they are investing, taking fees, and distributing the leftovers
    - kvinogradov 7mo ago
      Not the former VC, but an active venture capitalist: https://kvinogradov.com https://kvinogradov.com. I earn money by investing in open source / AI / infra software startups, and I spend money by donating to nonprofit open source projects :-) Also, it is not a VC who run things, but the team which consists of people with diverse backgrounds (founders/executives/devs x OSS/nonprofit) and the donor community (which everybody can join): https://endowment.dev/community/ https://endowment.dev/community/
      - verdverm 7mo ago
        It's the VC "class", similar to the Epstein Class, nowhere near as bad or vile, but have definitely been one of the primary reasons the wealth gap and inequality have risen and continue to rise
        dewey 7mo ago
        With your strong feelings against VC, I hope you are aware that HN is the message board of one of the leading VC firms? > but have definitely been one of the primary reasons the wealth gap and inequality have risen and continue to rise That's a pretty big leap you are doing there.
        verdverm 7mo ago
        You can click my handle to see I've been a part of the HN community longer than yourself, I'm fully aware of the many associations I have /rant'd on YC and the dilution of help to their startups after they stopped heeding their own advice to "do things that don't scale"
        whit537 7mo ago
        > I've been a part of the HN community longer than Dang, got me beat, too. :) gg
        verdverm 7mo ago
- kvinogradov 7mo ago
  What are your specific concerns? By the way, only 1 out of 6 core team members is based in SV.
  - verdverm 7mo ago
    SV is not a geographical location in the sense I'm using it Taking capital, using it, taking fees, and then distributing leftovers... sounds like Trumponomics
    - kvinogradov 7mo ago
      We all - the OSE donors - are donating personal savings to make this work, and are directly interested to make this org as efficient as possible. Having skin in the game is best way to keep such nonprofits accountable. There is no leftovers or fees - all investment income from donations goes to open source, except for minimized operating expenses (e.g. accounting). It is run by the team of volunteers without salaries, and we require $1000+/year donations from all directors of this org.
      - verdverm 7mo ago
        Are there rules on where you park the money between when you get it and when FOSS gets paid? The README has a 2-3% gap between expected returns and outlays, surely that is not all going to accounting?
        mhitza 7mo ago
        You have to give them at least some benefit of the doubt. I have my own questions yet which I haven't materialized, about the bylaws and selection criteria. But at least they are proposing a new approach. I'd at least give them a year tryout to see in what it materializes. At the current state of things I'm a bit in doubts about the market, and how that will change across the year. Though, it would also be interesting, as an idea, to participate in such a process as a member.
kiba 7mo ago
What is a preseed round? You guys don't "make" money when the ROI is primarily about funding long term maintenance of open source projects.
- kvinogradov 7mo ago
  "Preseed round" is just the small funding when the project is a very early stage. We expect to raise more funding when the endowment matures. There is no ROI, it is a pure charity.

verdverm 7mo ago

Running a non-profit with the mentality of SV, what could go wrong? Definitely something I will actively avoid after parent comment

dewey 7mo ago
Seems better like the current state...of there not being anything like that? Perfect is the enemy of good.
- deleted 7mo ago
  [deleted]
- verdverm 7mo ago
  There are many existing projects like this, I'm not going to pick the one started by a former VC Ask if those have not changed things, why would a VC run thing make things better? The last 2 decades have shown us what VC centeredness has brought us
  - whit537 7mo ago
    Former VC!? KV ... you gonna take that lying down? :P > There are many existing projects like this Also please link, we're not aware of any other endowments exclusively focused on Open Source.
    - verdverm 7mo ago
      Look at OP's profile: https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=kvinogradov https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=kvinogradov https://runacap.com/ https://runacap.com/
  - dewey 7mo ago
    Can you point out some existing ones with traction? I'm looking more at the list of people who are on board with it ("Trusted by open source creators" section) than who is actually running it, which I think is more important to get buy in than whoever is pulling admin strings in the back.
    - verdverm 7mo ago
      > Can you point out some existing ones with traction? That's kind of the point, there are none. The question is why? If people cannot even click a button to support when it's right there... I don't think people coming out of the VC world are going to fix it, call me cynical if you like
      - dewey 7mo ago
        You said: "There are many existing projects like this", directly followed by "That's kind of the point, there are none." when asked for an example. Which one is it? It's seems like a pretty thankless fundraising job but one where having connections to companies, banks and experience with distributing funds comes in handy. What's in it for a VC? I'd assume incoming deal flow and connections to new open source companies. Seems more promising to me than a technical open source maintainer stepping up to do it on the side. But time will tell.
        verdverm 7mo ago
        there are many existing, none with meaningful traction it looks like there are no direct connections, they are investing, taking fees, and distributing the leftovers
  - kvinogradov 7mo ago
    Not the former VC, but an active venture capitalist: https://kvinogradov.com https://kvinogradov.com. I earn money by investing in open source / AI / infra software startups, and I spend money by donating to nonprofit open source projects :-) Also, it is not a VC who run things, but the team which consists of people with diverse backgrounds (founders/executives/devs x OSS/nonprofit) and the donor community (which everybody can join): https://endowment.dev/community/ https://endowment.dev/community/
    - verdverm 7mo ago
      It's the VC "class", similar to the Epstein Class, nowhere near as bad or vile, but have definitely been one of the primary reasons the wealth gap and inequality have risen and continue to rise
      - dewey 7mo ago
        With your strong feelings against VC, I hope you are aware that HN is the message board of one of the leading VC firms? > but have definitely been one of the primary reasons the wealth gap and inequality have risen and continue to rise That's a pretty big leap you are doing there.
        verdverm 7mo ago
        You can click my handle to see I've been a part of the HN community longer than yourself, I'm fully aware of the many associations I have /rant'd on YC and the dilution of help to their startups after they stopped heeding their own advice to "do things that don't scale"
        whit537 7mo ago
        > I've been a part of the HN community longer than Dang, got me beat, too. :) gg
        verdverm 7mo ago
kvinogradov 7mo ago
What are your specific concerns? By the way, only 1 out of 6 core team members is based in SV.
- verdverm 7mo ago
  SV is not a geographical location in the sense I'm using it Taking capital, using it, taking fees, and then distributing leftovers... sounds like Trumponomics
  - kvinogradov 7mo ago
    We all - the OSE donors - are donating personal savings to make this work, and are directly interested to make this org as efficient as possible. Having skin in the game is best way to keep such nonprofits accountable. There is no leftovers or fees - all investment income from donations goes to open source, except for minimized operating expenses (e.g. accounting). It is run by the team of volunteers without salaries, and we require $1000+/year donations from all directors of this org.
    - verdverm 7mo ago
      Are there rules on where you park the money between when you get it and when FOSS gets paid? The README has a 2-3% gap between expected returns and outlays, surely that is not all going to accounting?
      - mhitza 7mo ago
        You have to give them at least some benefit of the doubt. I have my own questions yet which I haven't materialized, about the bylaws and selection criteria. But at least they are proposing a new approach. I'd at least give them a year tryout to see in what it materializes. At the current state of things I'm a bit in doubts about the market, and how that will change across the year. Though, it would also be interesting, as an idea, to participate in such a process as a member.

kiba 7mo ago

What is a preseed round? You guys don't "make" money when the ROI is primarily about funding long term maintenance of open source projects.

kvinogradov 7mo ago
"Preseed round" is just the small funding when the project is a very early stage. We expect to raise more funding when the endowment matures. There is no ROI, it is a pure charity.