SeattleAltruist

@kristjankaim is correct - this sure isn't Nabokov. Example: "Immortality of Dostoevsky’s art is unquestionable; his art will likely continue to live on."

Wait... which is it?

Didn't read. Reading white text on black background is like staring into an oncoming car's high beams. Good grief this is bad formatting and people keep doing it.

Post makes errors around what nonprofits are and can do. (IANAL, but I do set up and run nonprofits for a living.)

Error 1: "In the US, non-profits are heavily regulated in their operations..."

Correction: There are no more or less regulations than other sectors, but there is almost ZERO enforcement, so if anything, the nonprofit sector is more accurately described as very lightly regulated.

Error 2: ", and exempt from income tax."

Correction: Nonprofits are NOT exempt from income tax on revenue from earned activity that is not mission related, known as Unrelated Business Income.

Error 3: "Across the many different structures, though, non-profits have one thing in common: They don't have owners."

Correction: Oversimplification - nonprofits are run and functionally owned by a board of directors, people who hire and fire the CEO, decide how revenue is allocated, and approve any merger or dissolution. Nonprofits can also own for-profit subsidiaries (see OpenAI) so there are a lot of gray areas here.

In sum, nonprofit status is far more complex that OP thinks and there are a ton of opportunities for skulduggery - just because Ghost is a nonprofit does NOT mean it is free of conflicts or other bad things than companies do.

If Ghost really wants to demonstrate its transparency, it should publish its tax returns (IRS form 990) and also an itemized P&L -- then they can stake a claim to being holier than the typical business.

People often think that "non-profit" means that the company can't make a profit. It actually means that the company doesn't have any owners who can personally take the profits. Any revenue earned can only be reinvested.

That's helpful. On first look through the website, I found no mention of the tragic human and environmental cost.

TL/DR: Don't try to go big, even if you believe in your idea, because its hard. Instead, cough up $375 for templated business platitudes and chat rooms with randos.

TL/DR: Don't bother trying to go big, even if you believe in your idea, because difficulty. Instead, pay me $375 for performatted business platitudes and chat with a bunch of randos.

Wow - two of the links along the bottom of the Twitter/X home page are broken: the "About" and "Directory" links. Ironic, pathetic or both?

Pretty wild how sloppy

The author has an excellent program model for a nonprofit that could provide low-cost debt-collection resolution services to the vulnerable populations impacted by the industry's perverse incentives. That would be cool.

For everyone calling publishing a "racket": I'm about to publish a textbook for grad students in the social sciences with a major publisher. It will teach them the business side of social impact: planning, raising money, running a board, etc. It is all very badly needed, and I've spent 20 years of extreme hard work learning the details and another 5 years writing... this one book. My publisher, a top academic house, is giving me extensive editorial and layout help at no charge to me. We are going to charge $50, which even if I sell thousands of copies, will be pennies on the hour for everyone.... This is a rip-off?