Since 2021, Mastodon has had non-profit status in Germany, or at least it did until now. Apparently, the German tax office has revoked the company’s non-profit status and their response has been to appeal this decision, although they have not yet received a response. Well, it seems that Mastodon has not wanted to sit idly by and they have recently announced it.
Mastodon’s CEO and founder, Eugen Rochko, has announced the formation of a 501(c)(3) non-profit entity in the United States “with the goal of facilitating our efforts, including the possibility of receiving tax-deductible donations and in-kind support from the United States,” stated Rochko. And pay attention, because the most striking thing about this announcement is the board of directors that has been presented for this new organization.
To be exact, the council is composed of Esra’a Al Shafei, Karien Bezuidenhout, Amir Ghavi, Mastodon’s CFO Felix Hlatsky, and Twitter co-founder Biz Stone. In the statement shared by Mastodon’s CEO, you can discover who the members of this new council are, but undoubtedly, the name that has caught our attention the most is that of the co-founder of Twitter.
Mastodon forms a new non-profit organization and announces its board of directors
The selection of the aforementioned board of directors seems to have been based on the values of these personalities, as stated in the declaration, “they coincide with those of Mastodon”. In addition, they add that “with the additional guidance of this board and the incredible support of our growing communities, Mastodon will continue steadfast in its mission to provide a decentralized, free and open-source social network”.
The creation of this non-profit organization makes a lot of sense for Mastodon, as it is sustained (to pay its employees, developers, and designers, among other expenses) with donations received from the community through Patreon, which are subject to taxes. Therefore, with this new organization, the company will be able to receive tax-deductible donations and other types of financial support.
Regarding the withdrawal of its non-profit status in Germany, the CEO of Mastodon wanted to clarify that “our daily operations are not significantly affected by this event, as Patreon does not have non-profit status and Patreon’s income is not considered as donations. In fact, we haven’t had to issue a single donation receipt since 2021. The importance of non-profit status lies in communicating our commitment to the cause of creating social networks that serve the interests of their users rather than those of their shareholders.”
“Now we have the 501(c)(3) in the United States to fill the void. However, it is also important for us that Mastodon remains one of the few, if not the only, social media platforms that operates outside the EU, and we would like it to remain that way,” adds Eugen Rochko in the statement.
In conclusion, Rochko wanted to thank Jeff Atwood and Mozilla for their donations to support this non-profit organization, as they contributed $100,000 each. Additionally, it has also been highlighted that with these contributions, they have allowed the main development team, composed of two people, to continue their work and have facilitated the hiring of a third full-time developer.
