"Non-profit organizations typically fall into one of two categories: public and private. While a public non-profit organization receives the majority of its funding from the general public, a private non-profit organization receives most of its funds from only a few private sources, such as through donations from a single family or corporation."
With regard to the source you cited, "such as" is not a blanket translation equivalent to "still accepts donations." As a single example, a foundation can be created with a one time funding and a foundation can also receive investment income. A non-profit can also consist entirely of only a Board of Directors. Whether you consider the Board as a staff is open to interpretation.
You mentioned in an off-topic comment here in the discussion about being in the Pittsburgh area. May I suggest contacting the Pittsburgh Community Foundation who might be able to share more information with you? They should be able to tell you with more clarity and reference as to why some non-profits are not able to receive donations and are possibly not members of their "community." There are several hundred Community Foundations around the country if Pittsburgh is not accessible to you.
Is that who you are referring to? They do claim to be a community foundation.[0] However, I'm confused, because they also claim to be "a tax-exempt public charity" and that "donors are central to our mission"[0]. They also have a staff.[1]
I'm having a hard time understanding your point, I guess.
tldr: The Pittsburgh Community Foundation is a great reference to contact who can explain why some non-profits don't accept donations.
Yes, that is the organization and your points are spot-on. My point was not about the structure of Pittsburgh Foundation but rather related to part of their purpose.
In this particular example, a non-profit may be part of the geographical Pittsburgh community but is not necessarily a member(participant might be a more appropriate word) of the Pittsburgh Foundation "community" which receive donations/grants through them.
So why would a non-profit not be a "community member?"
Go back to my previous post: They should be able to tell you with more clarity and reference as to why some non-profits are not able to (added: or elect not to) receive donations and are possibly not members of their "community."
I think you're making a distinction between donations to an operating fund and donations to an endowment fund. The Pittsburgh Foundation (and presumably community foundations in general) do accept donations, but they focus on endowment funds. Am I hearing you correctly?
The Pittsburgh Foundation handles both grants and endowment funds. Due to their presumed expertise in all things non-profit related, the Pittsburgh Foundation should be familiar with the basic categorization of non-profits as either private or public. You commented that the "De facto" non-profit does accept donations. I proffered that the Pittsburgh Foundation is a voice of reason in your own backyward and they would be happy to point out that this is not really the case. It is up to you to pursue that.
I do have some other concern which is why is your ethos/structure is posted on a blog and not a more permanent page? If this is to be a working document then please annotate changes or if your intention is a truly "open" company then how about enlisting feedback from potential users some of whom might be lawers or accountants familiar with small business law and also interested in alternative business structures?
If mmahemoff's quote (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4287308) is direct from your page, it shows a revision from what is currently shown and from what I'm going to presume is the original blog post from Google cache.
Quoted in comment from mmahemoff:
"An open company differs from a non-profit organization in that an open company does not itself accept donations, and it does not compensate its employees. From the open company’s point of view, whether and how its employees receive money and for what, is undefined."
Current blog display:
An open company differs from a non-profit organization in that an open company is not registered as a charity with a government, and does not itself accept donations. An open company also does not have a paid staff, as most non-profits do in practice. From the open company’s point of view, whether and how its employees receive money and for what, is undefined.
Google Cache (http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:RwFZLSt...):
An open company differs from a non-profit organization in that it does not itself accept donations, and it does not compensate its employees. From the open company’s point of view, whether and how its employees receive money and for what, is undefined.
With all of that said, I really like what you're doing here. I just am not able to see how this would be better than a well-documented non-profit or a B Corporation. But I am open to being convinced if there really is a better way to do things. If you want a real challenge and a start-up idea, I'd love to see you tackle a better non-profit transparency mechanism than we have available today with GuideStar and Charity Navigator.
"Non-profit organizations typically fall into one of two categories: public and private. While a public non-profit organization receives the majority of its funding from the general public, a private non-profit organization receives most of its funds from only a few private sources, such as through donations from a single family or corporation."
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/difference-between-public-pri...
Still accepts donations. Still probably has a staff.
Do you have a better link to what you're talking about?