Loomio
Wed 24 Nov 2021 5:54PM

Governance (who makes final decisions about how empathy.chat works?)

TH Tim Huegerich Public Seen by 4

The ultimate vision is to function as some form of non-profit or B Corp or co-op, owned and controlled by empathy.chat members/partners.

At this point, though (to make this explicit and transparent), it is the personal project of Tim Huegerich, who aims to be a "temporary benevolent dictator" (concerning code and rules, which are themselves designed to delegate authority to users as much as possible). So all input given here on Loomio is advisory-only, though I (Tim) will give them serious consideration (and transition to a more inclusive governance structure as soon as seems prudent, via the process outlined here).

Acknowledgements

I'm grateful for the support, ideas, and feedback already contributed by: Stacy Huegerich, Shaun Taylor-Morgan (and many others via the Anvil forums), Liam Hanninen, Makarios Tabor, Loomio, Brian Preisler, Donna Erickson, Gagan Rajpal, Joseph Miranda, Veruska De Caro-Barek, Clara Moisello, Thom Bond (and NYCNVC more generally), Earl Wagner, Antonio Espinoza, Kerstin Mart, Adam Lippin of HearMe.app, Zak Singh, James Braten, Jack Sherman, Dan Breunig, Julie Preisler, Nikol Rogers, Ryan Hover, Cody Burns, Andrea Novotney, and surely others I'm so-far forgetting. (This is roughly in chronological order. Special mention to Stacy, Makarios, and Thom.)

J

James Sun 3 Apr 2022 6:57PM

I like the idea of evolving into some form of non-profit.

MT

Makarios Tabor Mon 4 Apr 2022 2:38AM

I agree with a community-based approach once there are enough members to sustain it. I'm apprehensive about a formal non-profit registered with IRS due to the red-tape, cost, and involvement of such a legal structure. I'd encourage a co-op model, which you also mentioned.