#forprofit — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #forprofit, aggregated by home.social.
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#ICE #DetentionCenter #ForProfit #Trump #MAGA #fascism #USpol
News to ME this morning: ICE detention centers are FOR PROFIT. There's a new board in Kansas putting just one of these under review.
Alt= Image of an item on the KPR website (Kansas Public Radio) with a pic of some kind of board at a meeting, with the headline "Leavenworth's for-profit ICE detention center under scrutiny from new community board", then "The 1,000-bed facility is currently holding 249 detainees. The board is intended to hold the CoreCivic facility to its agreements with the city and ensure inmates and employees are being treated fairly."
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https://www.europesays.com/news/25132/ OpenAI Founder Details Partying With Elon Musk Before Parting Ways #Altman #AmberHeard #BillGates #cofounder #company #day #DetailRichTestimony #ElonMusk #ForProfit #GregBrockman #Headlines #juror #jury #News #nonprofit #OpenAI #TopStories #tuesday
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https://www.europesays.com/people/58432/ OpenAI Founder Details Partying With Elon Musk Before Parting Ways #altman #AmberHeard #BillGates #company #control #day #DetailRichTestimony #ElonMusk #ForProfit #GregBrockman #HauntedMansion #juror #jury #Musk #OpenAI #TeslaCeo
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What gets posted to the Inter-Web stays on the Inter-Web - FOREVER! Apparently Mr. Musk has not learned this lesson.
Discussion about converting OpenAI to a for-profit entity started in 2016, and Musk flip flopped live in court saying “We are not pursuing AGI right now" he recently posed on X “Tesla will be one of the companies to make AGI.” https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/29/on-the-stand-elon-musk-cant-escape-his-own-tweets/ #OpenAI #AI #AGI #Lawsuit #ForProfit #NotForProfit #Internet #Tweets #SocialMedia
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Sam Altman’s Pentagon Pivot: Inside OpenAI’s Transformation From AI Lab to Defense Contractor Sam Altman's internal AMA revealed OpenAI's Pentagon defense deal, for-profit conversion pl...
#AISecurityPro #GenAIPro #AI #defense #contracts #OpenAI #for-profit #conversion #OpenAI #military #partnership
Origin | Interest | Match -
"At a glance
Patient deaths increased in the emergency departments of hospitals acquired by private equity firms compared to similar hospitals, a nationwide study has found.
Researchers linked the increase in mortality to cuts in salary and staffing levels.
The findings amplify concerns about the growth of this for-profit ownership model in health care delivery."
The link...
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Guess which percentage of bankruptcies are caused by healthcare in the USA:
40%
52%
66%#usa #healthcare #GovernmentFailure #bankruptcy #MedicalBankruptsy #Capitalism #Insurance #Corporations #ForProfit
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https://www.europesays.com/it/189377/ OpenAI, a Microsoft il 27% del capitale: così diventa un’azienda a scopo di lucro. La clausola «AI generale» #Affari #artificiale #azienda #AziendaLucro #Business #capitale #chatgpt #clausola #dollari #fondazione #for #ForProfit #impegnata #intelligenza #IntelligenzaArtificiale #IT #Italia #Italy #lucro #microsoft #nuova #nvidia #openai #OpenaiMicrosoft #ostacolo #prevede #profit #quota #raggiungimento #ricavi #società #societaria #softbank
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#OpenAI has completed its #recapitalisation, solidifying its structure as a #nonprofit with a #controllingstake in its #forprofit business. The OpenAI Foundation now holds a 26% stake in the for-profit, with 47% held by current and former employees and investors. Microsoft, a major investor, supports the recapitalisation and now holds a 27% stake in the for-profit. https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/28/open-ai-for-profit-microsoft.html?eicker.news #tech #media #news
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Yet another #CEO saying that, because they and many of those who work for their #forprofit #company have done very well out of the existing #copyright regime, nothing should be allowed to change it, and certainly not #ai:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/sep/18/ai-authors-publishing-regulation
As a rejoinder, here are two reasons why the existing copyright regime is not fit for purpose and should be transformed. They're taken from my forthcoming book Defund Culture, which is being published by a non-profit, scholar-led, #openaccess publisher under a Collective Conditions for Re-Use (CC4r) license:
1) Copyright is a major driver of #inequality in the twenty-first century, playing a pivotal but often overlooked role with regard to understanding the roots of disparities of #wealth in modern societies (Bellos and Montagu).
2) Copyright overwhelmingly serves #corporate interests – those of tech monopolies, #music #labels, #publishers - while restricting access to knowledge, ideas and the cultural #commons
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#ForProfit #Corporations Are Buying Up More #Psychiatric Hospitals. Some Flout #Federal #Law With Scarce Repercussions.
Psychiatric hospitals — increasingly owned by for-profit corporations — are illegally turning away patients during crises. Yet only a handful face penalties, with fines that are trivial, a ProPublica investigation found.
#HealthCare #health #MentalHealth #Trump #FederalGovernment #law
https://www.propublica.org/article/psychiatric-hospitals-emtala-mental-health-profit -
#ForProfit #Corporations Are Buying Up More #PsychiatricHospitals. Some Flout #FederalLaw With Scarce Repercussions.
https://www.propublica.org/article/psychiatric-hospitals-emtala-mental-health-profit
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#Donation bins: #Charity or #profit?
https://toledofreepress.com/donation-bins-charity-or-profit/
https://youtu.be/M2B6Ht-fbI4Cons, confusion and—in one case—connections to a #cult are among the reasons #Toledo-area #charities say they want a crackdown on #donationbins that siphon money away from their missions.
#Goodwill Industries of Northwest #Ohio is leading the charge, concerned that #forprofit companies are using donation-style bins that most people associate with local charities to mislead well-intentioned people.
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Health Insurance Card: “Emergency Visit: $50 Copay” Bill: $1269.60
The fallout of The E.R.’s Embrace.
Yes, the copay was $50, as the insurance card claimed. The tests and “coinsurance” brought it to $1269.60. I was making sure my severe and rapidly worsening nerve pain at 3a wasn’t part of a stroke or other neurological issue that would have ended up costing the insurance company way more. Deny, Defend, Depose.
If you’d like to help me out with it, please buy me a ko-fi. See you at the USA healthcare revolution, fellow body-haver.
https://www.illmarks.com/emergency-copay-50/
#art #bodyHorror #chronicIllness #denyDefendDepose #forProfit #healthInsurance #healthcare #healthinsurance #longCovid #medicalArt #MillionsMissing #privateInsurance #pwLC #pwme #usa #usaHealthcare
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#ChatGPT maker #OpenAI will remain under the control of its founding #nonprofit board, after abandoning its plan to split off its commercial ops as a #ForProfit company.
Fmr employees & #ElonMusk, a co-founder of OpenAI who later split w/ its leaders, had criticized the restructuring plan, saying it would remove important oversight of its #ArtificialIntelligence #technology. #Musk filed a lawsuit seeking to block the plan; the suit is still ongoing.#law #tech #business
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/05/05/openai-restructures-abandons-plan-profit/ -
Seitenwechsler:innen als Chance? Da nun sicher ist, dass die #Koalition aus #CDU #SPD #CSU kommt, ist auch sicher, dass Menschen aus Wirtschaftsunternehmen für die Union Minister:innen werden. Einige befürchten da #Interessenkonflikte. Andere antworten: Aberaberaber wenn sie aus #NGO kämen, wie zuvor #Agora, na?
Dann: Wäre das Problem anders, vielleicht sogar keines. Wirtschaft ist #ForProfit. Ihr Zweck ist finanzieller Gewinn - für sich. NGO=#zivilgesellschaft|liche Organisationen, meist #gemeinnützig, arbeiten #selbstlos. Mit Interessen. Aber zur Förderung der Allgemeinheit, explizit nicht zum wirtschaftlichen Vorteil ihrer Mitglieder, Angestellten oder Finanziers. Und meistens gehören sie in dem Sinne niemandem. Wäre dieser Unterschied common sense, wären wir weiter.
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Bill to block OpenAI's for-profit conversion gets mysteriously gutted
https://garymarcus.substack.com/p/breaking-bill-that-would-have-blocked
#HackerNews #OpenAI #Bill #ForProfit #Politics #Technology #News
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"Charging people in prison to communicate with the outside world has long been good business."
Katya Schwenk for The Lever: https://longreads.com/2025/03/21/the-succession-battle-for-a-prison-empire/
#Longreads #Investigation #Corruption #Incarceration #Prisons #Jails #ForProfit #Business
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This year, #GEOgroup & Washington are back in court — for a third time — as the company tries to reverse the earlier decision that sided w/the state. #GEO has brought in contract cleaners at the Tacoma facility while the case plays out, keeping detainees there from *paid* work & from having a way to earn commissary money.
#immigration #law #Slavery #forprofit #prison #Trump #HumanRights
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At the 1,575-bed detention center GEO runs for #ICE in Tacoma, Washington, detainees once prepared meals, washed laundry & scrubbed toilets, doing jobs that would otherwise require 85 full-time employees…. The state’s #MinimumWage at the time was $11 an hour. (It’s now $16.66.) In 2017, Washington sued GEO to enforce it, & in Oct 2021 a federal jury ruled unanimously in the state’s favor.
#immigration #law #Slavery #forprofit #prison #GEOGroup #Trump
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The #forprofit #prison company #GEOGroup has surged in value under #Trump. Investors are betting big on #immigration #detention. Its stock price doubled after Election Day.
But despite its soaring fortunes, the $4B company continues to resist having to pay detainees >$1 a day for cleaning facilities where the government has forced them to live.
#law #Slavery
https://www.propublica.org/article/geo-group-ice-detainees-wage -
#Ice #detention isn’t just a bureaucratic nightmare. It’s a #business. These facilities are privately owned and run #forprofit.
Companies like CoreCivic and GEO Group receive government funding based on the number of people they detain, which is why they lobby for stricter immigration policies. It’s a lucrative business: CoreCivic made over $560mfrom Ice contracts in a single year. In 2024, GEO Group made more than $763m from Ice contracts.https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/19/canadian-detained-us-immigration-jasmine-mooney
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Update. "#DOGE order leads to journal cancellations by U.S. agricultural library"
https://www.science.org/content/article/doge-order-leads-journal-cancellations-u-s-agricultural-library"The #USDA on Friday told staff members it has canceled subscriptions carried by its National Agricultural Library as part of a drive by President Donald #Trump’s administration to cut federal spending. The move appears to drop nearly 400 of the library’s roughly 2000 journals, including many prominent in various agricultural subfields —but curiously none from the world’s three largest scientific publishers, all of which are #ForProfit. USDA staff members depicted the move as hasty, indiscriminate slashing…Studies of journal subscription fees indicate that on average, scientific #SocietyPublishers charge less than such for-profit companies."
PS: (1) Of course the best ag research should be #OpenAccess. But that's a goal, not the current reality, and while we work for that goal, policymaking agencies still need access the best research. (2) If efficiency requires budget cuts, why focus the cuts on journals from #nonprofit #publishers, which on average are lower in price and higher in quality?
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#Firefighting Fire Sale
After #US #ForestService #layoffs, will #forprofit contractors protect you from #wildfires?
Like many of 3,400 Forest Service abruptly fired by #DOGE, Kloetzel’s permanent job offer last spring had come with a 1 year “probationary” period, with fewer job protections. Since he lives in Forest Service housing, he also lost his housing. Altogether, around quarter of the ranger district’s employees were fired. “It’s a bitter pill to swallow,” he says.
https://www.levernews.com/the-firefighting-fire-sale/ -
OpenAI widerspricht Musks Übernahmeangebot und sieht Widerspruch zu laufender Klage
Elon Musks Versuch, OpenAI zu übernehmen, steht nach Ansicht des KI-Unternehmens in direktem Widerspruch zu seiner laufen
https://www.apfeltalk.de/magazin/news/openai-widerspricht-musks-uebernahmeangebot-und-sieht-widerspruch-zu-laufender-klage/
#KI #News #chatGPT #ElonMusk #forprofit #GemeinntzigeOrganisation #KIRegulierung #KIbernahme #KnstlicheIntelligenz #OpenAI #SamAltman #TechnologieWirtschaft #xAI -
A Manifesto Against For-Profit Health Insurance Companies — by Michael Moore
I hereby give you my Oscar-nominated Documentary on the Killer Health Insurance companies like United HealthCare —SICKO — for FREE… and let’s end and replace this so-called “health care system” NOW.
https://www.michaelmoore.com/p/a-manifesto-against-for-profit-health
#us #UnitedStates #HealthCare #HealthInsurance #insurance #LuigiMangione #ForProfit #sicko #MichaelMoore
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Nearly all care homes closed for endangering children and vulnerable adults were profit-driven, study finds | Morning Star
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/nearly-all-care-homes-closed-endangering-children-and-vulnerable-adults-were-profit#CareHomes
#ChildrensHomes
#ForProfit
#Safeguarding
#Children
#Disabled
#Elderly
#MentallyIll
#Vulnerable
#CareQualityCommission
#Ofsted
#KeepOurNHSPublic
#DeptOfHealthAndSocialCare -
#ForProfit #US #Healthcare System—Once Again—Ranks Dead Last Among Its Peers
https://www.commondreams.org/news/us-healthcare-system
"Our private, #profitdriven system means that we are #paying more for less," said one progressive #activist.
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#Trump #CashesIn during final wks of his campaign
No candidate has ever so closely linked his election w/personal #ForProfit enterprises, selling items from shoes to books to pieces of his suit. With <10 wks before the #election, Trump had a msg for voters in late Aug: He would be selling more digital trading cards for $99 each.
“50 all new stunning digital trading cards — it’s really something,” Trump says.“These cards show me dancing & even holding some bitcoins.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/09/08/trump-cash-merchandise-books-cards/
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#Solarprofit: Un exemple d'empresa convencional afectada per un bum sectorial.
L'ambició per créixer i la cobdícia fan perdre la mesura i la prudència en la gestió.
Qui tot ho vol, tot ho perd. O dit en castellà, "la avaricia rompió el saco".
#Empresa #BME #Growth #BMEGrowth #Startup #ForProfit #Energia #Solar #Fotovoltaica #Autoconsum
https://www.elnacional.cat/oneconomia/ca/empreses/caiguda-catalana-solarprofit-deixa-centenars-clients-afectats_1261352_102.html -
If #socialinstitutions dance too closely with #forprofit MNCs🤔🇸🇬
Income-Allianz deal raises concerns among #public, experts
"former CEO of #NTUC #Income #Cooperative, also weighed in, calling it a "breach of #goodfaith" given tt the #assurance from NTUC Enterprise to remain as #majority #shareholder was used to alleviate concerns about te #corporatisation in 2022.. Insurance Income was founded in 1970 to provide #essential, #affordable #insurance to #underserved #workers"
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/ntuc-income-insurance-allianz-deal-tan-suee-chieh-tommy-koh-4500751 -
If #socialinstitutions dance too closely with #forprofit MNCs🤔🇸🇬
Income-Allianz deal raises concerns among #public, experts
"former CEO of #NTUC #Income #Cooperative, also weighed in, calling it a "breach of #goodfaith" given tt the #assurance from NTUC Enterprise to remain as #majority #shareholder was used to alleviate concerns about te #corporatisation in 2022.. Insurance Income was founded in 1970 to provide #essential, #affordable #insurance to #underserved #workers"
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/ntuc-income-insurance-allianz-deal-tan-suee-chieh-tommy-koh-4500751 -
If #socialinstitutions dance too closely with #forprofit MNCs🤔🇸🇬
Income-Allianz deal raises concerns among #public, experts
"former CEO of #NTUC #Income #Cooperative, also weighed in, calling it a "breach of #goodfaith" given tt the #assurance from NTUC Enterprise to remain as #majority #shareholder was used to alleviate concerns about te #corporatisation in 2022.. Insurance Income was founded in 1970 to provide #essential, #affordable #insurance to #underserved #workers"
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/ntuc-income-insurance-allianz-deal-tan-suee-chieh-tommy-koh-4500751 -
#Project2025’s #Plan to #Eliminate #PublicSchools Has Already begun.
#Goals include #elimination of the #DepartmentofEducation, #federal #education #funding,#civilrights #protections for #students, and sending #publicmoney to #forprofit #privateschools.
#Women #Transgender #LGBTQ #LGBTQIA #Education #Conservatives #Extremism #Fascism #Hategroups #RepublicanParty #Hate #Bigotry #Violence #Genocide #Discrimination #Homophobia #Transphobia #ThePartyOfHate
https://time.com/7001264/project-2025-public-school-closure/
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Hundreds of #US #policeofficers #taught #racist, #unConstitutional #practices which #glorified #violence while simultaneously #denigrating #women, #minorities, and #peoplewithdisabilities by #forprofit #contractor in #NewJersey.
#Women #Transgender #LGBTQ #LGBTQIA #NewJersey #Police #Hate #Bigotry #Violence #Misogyny #Racism #Ableism #Homophobia #Transphobia #NoPoliceAtPride
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83% Of English Rivers Have Evidence Of High Pollution From Sewage And Agriculture
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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/jan/30/english-rivers-pollution-sewage-agriculture-uk <-- shared media article
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#GIS #spatial #mapping #watersecurity #waterquality #UK #england #britain #pollution #sewerage #citizenscience #watertesting #monitoring #communityengagement #angling #anglers #spatialanalysis #AnglingTrust #regulations #EUstandards #brexit #ecosystems #habitat #fish #biology #farming #agriculture #runoff #fertiliser #watercompanies #privateindustry #phosphate #phosphates #ecology #healthy #failure #aquatic #habitatloss #forprofit #algae #algalbloom #policy #planning #neglect #politics #water #hydrology #catchments #pollutionstandards #rivers #streams
@AnglingTrust -
@shansterable
It should be obvious to everyone that in a #corporatized #forProfit system a health care corporations makes the max profit when they give the less amount of care.
In other words; As sickness increases (see the response to Covid by the conservatives) and care decreases ( more sickness, suffering and death) the higher the profit.
The for-profit business model is the exact opposite of what we need.
The US doesnt need to invent a new system, it can simply copy one that works. -
CW: Instgram Reel
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#Mindustry is a great example of a game that can #simultaneously be #OpenSource and also be sold #ForProfit on the #SteamStore!
Was it $10 last time I checked on the steam store?
No, it was €9.99.But on #FlatHub it is free and #SourceCode is on #GitHub GPL-3.0 license
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@qdot For starters, I'd definitely watch that Black Mirror episode. :-)
More #srsly, looking at how technology is "sold" to people and used & abused today, the bulk of my concerns about dystopian future outcomes come not from #AR (or #AI) technologies in & of themselves, as much as the thought that Apple or Microsoft or other #forprofit monopolists / oligopolists will be allowed - again - to be the central decision-makers of how new technologies are developed, marketed, maintained, and so on.
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More evidence that some #publishers set #APCs based on #prestige & what they think the market will bear, not production #costs.
https://www.thenation.com/article/society/neuroimage-elsevier-editorial-board-journal-profit/"#Elsevier told editors that fees were based on a journal’s reputation —specifically, their #ImpactFactor. As the editors grew the journal’s prestige, Elsevier increased the publication fee by about 15%…Keilholz…concluded that the incentives for #ForProfit publishers were not aligned with 'what we want for science.' "
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If you're sticking to the facts, please point me to the #openSource code for #BlueSkySocial platform?
You should be more specific - #bluesky is making an open source protocol, but their social network built on top of that isn't open source.
#forProfit company with a stated public benefit purpose (that's opened for misuse and manipulation) can't be even remotely similar to a #nonProfit.
The only thing in common is the limited liability for the founder(s). -
@jpreisendoerfer @airun @happy @marqle
To see why I make the point, let me first sketch the two generic cooperative modells which are subsumed under the roof of the #InternationalCooperativeAlliance (#ICA).
The two generic modells covered by ICA's #GuidanceNotes on the #CooperativePrinciples are the membership-fee modell and the membership-shares modell.
In the membership-fees modell, members of the respective cooperative usually contribute a recurring #membership #fee.
The membership fee basically fills the gap between operational #costs and operational #revenues of the cooperative.
In the membership-share modell, members of the respective cooperative own a share in the cooperative, similar to #shares in a joint-stock company.
A single share need not necessarily have a large nominal value. Some cooperatives emit shares with a nominal value of just € 10.
The cooperative shares can not be traded freely. In this respect, they are similar to vinculated registered shares of a joint-stock company which is not listed on a stock exchange.
In this modell, members usually don't pay membership fees, but rather receive some yearly #dividend on their share(s).
However, different from joint-stock companies, cooperatives in the membership-share modell follow the ›one-person, one-vote‹ rule. That is, members do not receive an increased weight-of-vote when they buy additional shares of the #coop.
Both cooperative modells can be mixed. This results in some type of monetary #reallocation between members, depending on the relationship the respective cooperative has set up between operational #turnover, membership fees, non-member #business, and so forth.
As an example, almost all cooperatives in #FRG follow the membership-share modell. Cooperatives which collect a membership-fee do exist in FRG, but they are rare.
On the other hand, most cooperatives in #Switzerland collect a membership-fee.
Recently, the first cooperative #railway society was established in #France. This coop uses the membership-share modell.
Also, not every coop under the roof of ICA uses the legal form of a cooperative.
Again as an example from FRG:
It is entirely possible to establish a business which is conceptually a coop by ICA's standards, but legally is a joint-stock company.
This requires to emit vinculated registered shares and writing the ›one-person, one-vote‹ rule into the #statues of the joint-stock company.
In particular in FRG, it's also reasonable to follow this path, because the cooperative law of this jurisdiction still contains regulation from #Nazi era, when no #parliamentary #legislator existed.
With regard to the question if a cooperative should be #nonProfit or #forProfit:
In the membership-fee modell, the fees collected from members serve the same purpose as #donations to a cooperative. As I layed out above, membership fees and donations fill the gap between operational costs and operational revenues of the cooperative.
Obviously, members must be able to afford the membership fee.
Maybe the cooperative has some reduced membership fees for people who can not easily afford the fee. In that case, said people have to come out to the cooperative as being poor.
For many poor people, being poor is a big #stigma, and they shy away from identifying themselves with that stigma. So the membership fee in fact poses a high social #barrier.
On the other hand, in the membership-share modell, a poor person which buys a cooperative share does not have to pay a recurring membership fee and therefore doesn't have to identify with the stigma of being poor with respect to the cooperative.
A cooperative in the membership-share modell will have to create larger revenues, but not necessarily a #surplus. (The term ›surplus‹ is used in coop lingo instead of #profit.)
When it does indeed create a surplus, then it can grow its undivisable reserve and can pay some dividend on the cooperative shares.
For the reasons I layed out above, I consider the membership-fee modell of cooperatives as presenting a considerable amount of #Classism, and I decided not to contribute resources to such cooperatives (at least not after a start-up phase, where membership-fees only contribute to the costs of getting the cooperative going):
In essence, membership-fee or non-profit cooperatives #socialise the costs of their operation, rather than the revenues of their operation (or, to be more precise, the surplus of their operation).
An issue that I have with a publication like ›Relationship-to-Profit: A Theory of Business, Markets, and Profit for Social Ecological Economics‹ by Jennifer Hinton is that it considers ›the pursuit of unlimited financial gain‹ as if this is what happens in a cooperative which creates a surplus (or profit).
I think that this is an unjustifiably, severely #classist misconception of the operation of a membership-share cooperative.
In the central-european cooperative tradition, as marked by Raiffeisen and Schultze-Delitzsch, fostering the financial situation of members of cooperatives is not just a side-effect, but a core aim.
🌺
🏷️ #donation #donor -
@jpreisendoerfer @airun @happy @marqle
To see why I make the point, let me first sketch the two generic cooperative modells which are subsumed under the roof of the #InternationalCooperativeAlliance (#ICA).
The two generic modells covered by ICA's #GuidanceNotes on the #CooperativePrinciples are the membership-fee modell and the membership-shares modell.
In the membership-fees modell, members of the respective cooperative usually contribute a recurring #membership #fee.
The membership fee basically fills the gap between operational #costs and operational #revenues of the cooperative.
In the membership-share modell, members of the respective cooperative own a share in the cooperative, similar to #shares in a joint-stock company.
A single share need not necessarily have a large nominal value. Some cooperatives emit shares with a nominal value of just € 10.
The cooperative shares can not be traded freely. In this respect, they are similar to vinculated registered shares of a joint-stock company which is not listed on a stock exchange.
In this modell, members usually don't pay membership fees, but rather receive some yearly #dividend on their share(s).
However, different from joint-stock companies, cooperatives in the membership-share modell follow the ›one-person, one-vote‹ rule. That is, members do not receive an increased weight-of-vote when they buy additional shares of the #coop.
Both cooperative modells can be mixed. This results in some type of monetary #reallocation between members, depending on the relationship the respective cooperative has set up between operational #turnover, membership fees, non-member #business, and so forth.
As an example, almost all cooperatives in #FRG follow the membership-share modell. Cooperatives which collect a membership-fee do exist in FRG, but they are rare.
On the other hand, most cooperatives in #Switzerland collect a membership-fee.
Recently, the first cooperative #railway society was established in #France. This coop uses the membership-share modell.
Also, not every coop under the roof of ICA uses the legal form of a cooperative.
Again as an example from FRG:
It is entirely possible to establish a business which is conceptually a coop by ICA's standards, but legally is a joint-stock company.
This requires to emit vinculated registered shares and writing the ›one-person, one-vote‹ rule into the #statues of the joint-stock company.
In particular in FRG, it's also reasonable to follow this path, because the cooperative law of this jurisdiction still contains regulation from #Nazi era, when no #parliamentary #legislator existed.
With regard to the question if a cooperative should be #nonProfit or #forProfit:
In the membership-fee modell, the fees collected from members serve the same purpose as #donations to a cooperative. As I layed out above, membership fees and donations fill the gap between operational costs and operational revenues of the cooperative.
Obviously, members must be able to afford the membership fee.
Maybe the cooperative has some reduced membership fees for people who can not easily afford the fee. In that case, said people have to come out to the cooperative as being poor.
For many poor people, being poor is a big #stigma, and they shy away from identifying themselves with that stigma. So the membership fee in fact poses a high social #barrier.
On the other hand, in the membership-share modell, a poor person which buys a cooperative share does not have to pay a recurring membership fee and therefore doesn't have to identify with the stigma of being poor with respect to the cooperative.
A cooperative in the membership-share modell will have to create larger revenues, but not necessarily a #surplus. (The term ›surplus‹ is used in coop lingo instead of #profit.)
When it does indeed create a surplus, then it can grow its undivisable reserve and can pay some dividend on the cooperative shares.
For the reasons I layed out above, I consider the membership-fee modell of cooperatives as presenting a considerable amount of #Classism, and I decided not to contribute resources to such cooperatives (at least not after a start-up phase, where membership-fees only contribute to the costs of getting the cooperative going):
In essence, membership-fee or non-profit cooperatives #socialise the costs of their operation, rather than the revenues of their operation (or, to be more precise, the surplus of their operation).
An issue that I have with a publication like ›Relationship-to-Profit: A Theory of Business, Markets, and Profit for Social Ecological Economics‹ by Jennifer Hinton is that it considers ›the pursuit of unlimited financial gain‹ as if this is what happens in a cooperative which creates a surplus (or profit).
I think that this is an unjustifiably, severely #classist misconception of the operation of a membership-share cooperative.
In the central-european cooperative tradition, as marked by Raiffeisen and Schultze-Delitzsch, fostering the financial situation of members of cooperatives is not just a side-effect, but a core aim.
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🏷️ #donation #donor -
@jpreisendoerfer @airun @happy @marqle
To see why I make the point, let me first sketch the two generic cooperative modells which are subsumed under the roof of the #InternationalCooperativeAlliance (#ICA).
The two generic modells covered by ICA's #GuidanceNotes on the #CooperativePrinciples are the membership-fee modell and the membership-shares modell.
In the membership-fees modell, members of the respective cooperative usually contribute a recurring #membership #fee.
The membership fee basically fills the gap between operational #costs and operational #revenues of the cooperative.
In the membership-share modell, members of the respective cooperative own a share in the cooperative, similar to #shares in a joint-stock company.
A single share need not necessarily have a large nominal value. Some cooperatives emit shares with a nominal value of just € 10.
The cooperative shares can not be traded freely. In this respect, they are similar to vinculated registered shares of a joint-stock company which is not listed on a stock exchange.
In this modell, members usually don't pay membership fees, but rather receive some yearly #dividend on their share(s).
However, different from joint-stock companies, cooperatives in the membership-share modell follow the ›one-person, one-vote‹ rule. That is, members do not receive an increased weight-of-vote when they buy additional shares of the #coop.
Both cooperative modells can be mixed. This results in some type of monetary #reallocation between members, depending on the relationship the respective cooperative has set up between operational #turnover, membership fees, non-member #business, and so forth.
As an example, almost all cooperatives in #FRG follow the membership-share modell. Cooperatives which collect a membership-fee do exist in FRG, but they are rare.
On the other hand, most cooperatives in #Switzerland collect a membership-fee.
Recently, the first cooperative #railway society was established in #France. This coop uses the membership-share modell.
Also, not every coop under the roof of ICA uses the legal form of a cooperative.
Again as an example from FRG:
It is entirely possible to establish a business which is conceptually a coop by ICA's standards, but legally is a joint-stock company.
This requires to emit vinculated registered shares and writing the ›one-person, one-vote‹ rule into the #statues of the joint-stock company.
In particular in FRG, it's also reasonable to follow this path, because the cooperative law of this jurisdiction still contains regulation from #Nazi era, when no #parliamentary #legislator existed.
With regard to the question if a cooperative should be #nonProfit or #forProfit:
In the membership-fee modell, the fees collected from members serve the same purpose as #donations to a cooperative. As I layed out above, membership fees and donations fill the gap between operational costs and operational revenues of the cooperative.
Obviously, members must be able to afford the membership fee.
Maybe the cooperative has some reduced membership fees for people who can not easily afford the fee. In that case, said people have to come out to the cooperative as being poor.
For many poor people, being poor is a big #stigma, and they shy away from identifying themselves with that stigma. So the membership fee in fact poses a high social #barrier.
On the other hand, in the membership-share modell, a poor person which buys a cooperative share does not have to pay a recurring membership fee and therefore doesn't have to identify with the stigma of being poor with respect to the cooperative.
A cooperative in the membership-share modell will have to create larger revenues, but not necessarily a #surplus. (The term ›surplus‹ is used in coop lingo instead of #profit.)
When it does indeed create a surplus, then it can grow its undivisable reserve and can pay some dividend on the cooperative shares.
For the reasons I layed out above, I consider the membership-fee modell of cooperatives as presenting a considerable amount of #Classism, and I decided not to contribute resources to such cooperatives (at least not after a start-up phase, where membership-fees only contribute to the costs of getting the cooperative going):
In essence, membership-fee or non-profit cooperatives #socialise the costs of their operation, rather than the revenues of their operation (or, to be more precise, the surplus of their operation).
An issue that I have with a publication like ›Relationship-to-Profit: A Theory of Business, Markets, and Profit for Social Ecological Economics‹ by Jennifer Hinton is that it considers ›the pursuit of unlimited financial gain‹ as if this is what happens in a cooperative which creates a surplus (or profit).
I think that this is an unjustifiably, severely #classist misconception of the operation of a membership-share cooperative.
In the central-european cooperative tradition, as marked by Raiffeisen and Schultze-Delitzsch, fostering the financial situation of members of cooperatives is not just a side-effect, but a core aim.
🌺
🏷️ #donation #donor -
A non-profit cooperative will likely #depend on #donation|s.
It thus runs risk to align itself to the interests of #donor|s who give large amounts of #money, rather than to the interests of the #coop members.
›Should a #cooperative operating #Fediverse #instance|s be #NonProfit or #ForProfit?‹
✅ https://mastodon.social/@jpreisendoerfer/109724135146872978
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🏷️ #PlatformCooperative #Distributism #Mastodon #Pixelfed #Capitalism #Classism #Matrix #Mutualism #MutualAid #Genossenschaft #Friendica #CooperativeEconomics #ICA
