Internet Archive? Non profit. Let's Encrypt? Non profit. ICANN? Non profit. Linux Foundation? Non profit.
VC funding is fine in some contexts, but most of the stack should be non profit driven whenever possible to prevent the eventual enshittification and attempts at capture by profit driven actors. You can always donate to the relevant non profit (code, time, fiat), but by operating the public good as a non profit, you're creating a form of security boundary and reducing attack surface by economic threat actors. Worst case, the VC funded enterprise fails open and the only harm is employees who need to find new jobs and shareholders and investors who experience a capital loss.
We want to continue to own the commons and culture collectively when for profit companies building on public social infrastructure ("open social networks and protocols") close or a suboptimal change of ownership occurs.
> Internet Archive? Non profit. Let's Encrypt? Non profit. ICANN? Non profit. Linux Foundation? Non profit.
Non-profits are great and we should have them too. If you look into how these non-profits are funded, it's largely corporate money.
Indeed! And that's okay. The money pays the bills, but they do not have control over the non profit. Assuming good faith and no fraud, the money, once given to the non profit, cannot be clawed back by anyone in the future (investors, shareholders, creditors, future owners, etc). They remain "on mission" regardless of what happens to the for profit that provided funding in some capacity.