I think the model of taking a piece of alumni future income (via ownership in their startups) is a competitive advantage of YC relative to places like MIT. It'

I think the model of taking a piece of alumni future income (via ownership in their startups) is a competitive advantage of YC relative to places like MIT. It's a forced donation policy. Going to a non-profit doesn't stop this. NPs obviously can take in tons of revenue - a NP model just encourages alumni to give more back (time/connections as well as $). I wouldn't feel the same sense of wanting to give back to MIT if the school basically existed to increase the wealth of the school president. YC is very different from a typical VC fund, it would be sad for it to die just because (like every fund) eventually it'll have a bad run. It could be more stable than that since it is also providing value to it's alumni that they'd happily pay back.