It's very difficult to set up a proper non-profit able to handle both donations and commercial services in the USA. You'll end up spending fortunes on laywers. It's much easier to use a jurisdiction where the law already does all the legal job for you.
That is a very good point. Thanks!
Re:Miraheze to Shut Down
by Reception123 on Saturday June 17, 2023 @07:21AM
(#36369212)
That's a fair point but on the other hand I've been at Miraheze for almost 8 years and having such a huge operation rely on a few unpaid volunteers isn't realistic in the long term and people burnout, lose interest or both. There's also the anxiety of knowing that the fate of the farm depends on a yearly (or even more frequent) fundraiser.
These are problems that all small nonprofits face. I would love to pay people, but even having a commercial model doesn’t mean you escape questions about funding and staffing.
In any case I'm pretty sure we could get 501(c)3 public charity status, even though Miraheze missed out on charity status in the UK. If you could follow up on-wiki about co-op status as an option, I'd appreciate it.
On accountability: Members of the board need to come from the community and represent the community. Yes, it's true that no one tried to run for the board seats that were available, but people weren't encouraged to do so enough. I don't think the decisions were bad in and of themselves, but that not enough effort was made to get community support.
On paid premium features: I'm not opposed, but I want to see a business model that works without taking significant resources away from our free customers.