Kickstarter Is Now A Benefit Corporation

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Kickstarter is now a benefit corporation. What is a benefit corporation you ask? This is how Kickstarter explains it:

Benefit Corporations are for-profit companies that are obligated to consider the impact of their decisions on society, not only shareholders. Radically, positive impact on society becomes part of a Benefit Corporation’s legally defined goals. When a company becomes a Benefit Corporation, it can choose to make further commitments. In our new charter (shown below) we spell out our mission, our values, and the commitments we have made to pursue them.
 
Seems like a fair amount of rainbows and unicorns corporate speak in that news bulletin but if they actually do give their users better tools and training to see their projects through to success then that would be a good thing ... on the software side, KS definitely favors the established developer who knows what they need and how to budget for it (new developers don't always understand this as well and can get out of their depth very quickly) ... on the hardware side they definitely need better project management tools for the developers and better reporting for the donators ... the hardware developers can really get out of their depth quickly as well (as a couple of high profile failures there have highlighted) ... we'll have to wait and see if this is more than corporate doublespeak or not
 
Benefit Corporations are for-profit companies that are obligated to consider the impact of their decisions on society, not only shareholders. Radically, positive impact on society becomes part of a Benefit Corporation’s legally defined goals. When a company becomes a Benefit Corporation, it can choose to make further commitments. In our new charter (shown below) we spell out our mission, our values, and the commitments we have made to pursue them.
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Certainly sounds much better than saying "we do it to avoid paying taxes" :rolleyes::rolleyes:
 
Stoly said:
Certainly sounds much better than saying "we do it to avoid paying taxes" :rolleyes::rolleyes:
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Basically this

PRESS RELEASE: we found yet another way to avoid paying our obligations while still providing you absolutely no real services while taking a cut of every kickstarter. Please feel even better now when you give us your free money!
 
We're a Benefit Corporation......

who benefits? We do. Thanks for playing.
 
It means they wont use an Irish subsidiary to get tax breaks.
 
defaultluser said:
Basically this

PRESS RELEASE: we found yet another way to avoid paying our obligations while still providing you absolutely no real services while taking a cut of every kickstarter. Please feel even better now when you give us your free money!
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This isn't the case, but I understand your sentiment.

Who created "yet another way"? The citizens didn't vote on it. The corportations didn't sign it into law.

The politicians are the only ones who make this stuff possible, yet they use it as a device to direct your frustration.

And why is there is there an obligation on the corporations part? Why is a COMPANY obligated to pay income tax?

Corportate Tax is a way for the government to tax YOU even more, yet not make you blame the government directly. You blame companies for making things more expensive.
 
The real question is, why did we have to create a "special" kind of company type to describe one that gives a shit about the world around them? Why isn't this taught in business school as a standard practice?

That's the real question I think.
 
westrock2000 said:
The real question is, why did we have to create a "special" kind of company type to describe one that gives a shit about the world around them? Why isn't this taught in business school as a standard practice?

That's the real question I think.
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Because it's been systematically eradicated over the past half century , sociopathy is almost always more profitable in the short term, and our current system usually rewards that kind of behavior?
 
tetris42 said:
Because it's been systematically eradicated over the past half century , sociopathy is almost always more profitable in the short term, and our current system usually rewards that kind of behavior?[/QUOTE


There has never been a tradition of "do no Evil" in business. from the Monarchs of Spain raping the new world, to the British East India company enslaving millions and the Robber Barons of America, big business has a long tradition of earning all they can at the expense of everyone else. While there are big business philanthropists in history, they are a dim candle to the burning torch of exploitation. it's just human nature.
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motomonkey said:
tetris42 said:
Because it's been systematically eradicated over the past half century , sociopathy is almost always more profitable in the short term, and our current system usually rewards that kind of behavior?[/QUOTE


There has never been a tradition of "do no Evil" in business. from the Monarchs of Spain raping the new world, to the British East India company enslaving millions and the Robber Barons of America, big business has a long tradition of earning all they can at the expense of everyone else. While there are big business philanthropists in history, they are a dim candle to the burning torch of exploitation. it's just human nature.
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There have been protections in place in the past to prevent business from tipping too far on the evil scale. Practices that get big business rich now would have had executives thrown in prison 50-60 years ago. And it's not really accurate to call it human nature, human nature has all kinds of aspects to it. It's the nature of sociopaths, and a system that encourages it. Most people don't operate in their daily lives in a way that puts money above EVERYTHING else. They also care about things like their family, friends, neighbors, etc. Business does not.
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Guys help me out I keep detecting the smell of hyperbolic bullshit with just the faintest whiff of corporate doublespeak but I can't tell where it's coming from.
 
The day that Kickstarter implements some meaningful backer protections is the day I will agree to eat a pair of old, unwashed socks. Until then, Kickstarter can take a large leap off of an exceedingly short pier.
 
tetris42 said:
There have been protections in place in the past to prevent business from tipping too far on the evil scale. Practices that get big business rich now would have had executives thrown in prison 50-60 years ago. And it's not really accurate to call it human nature, human nature has all kinds of aspects to it. It's the nature of sociopaths, and a system that encourages it. Most people don't operate in their daily lives in a way that puts money above EVERYTHING else. They also care about things like their family, friends, neighbors, etc. Business does not.
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And sadly the corruption on the business side is tied at the hip with the corruption on the political field, so don't expect a fix anytime soon with bribery (oh sorry, contributions?) being legal nowadays.
 
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