I have said this countless times, and I will say it again - it is just marvelous how Lichess provides so much value being completely free (both libre and gratis).<p>I would love to see more publicity of Lichess though - and seems like this move will help in that regard.<p>I don't know for sure, but is there any other chess organization in the world of this scope that is truly non-profit? Sure, FIDE itself is non-profit, but profit-motives of its commercial counterparts and allies are controversial, to say the least.
While I think a US non-profit makes a lot of sense, I would exercise caution with the non-profit board.<p>The board’s job is to provide oversight and to appoint a director [1]. In this case it would clearly be Thibault, but what happens in a few years when Thibault is ready to go? Does he have say in his replacement? Does the French organization take precedent over the US nonprofit when it comes to leadership and governance?<p>I say this because Lichess is extremely valuable (even as a non-profit) and that will attract the wrong kind of people. Thibault should take every precaution to make sure he retains control of the org, with good people around him. I’m not sure if there is a non-profit equivalent of retaining voting rights, but I’d want to be sure he retains control until it’s well established as a non-profit and a succession plan is in place.<p>The wrong board could evaluate his performance (which right now he says he works at his leisure and loves what he does) and say “we need more fundraising and appearances in the US at tournaments” and he could balk / want to focus on the product. They could then look to appoint a US director of the nonprofit and things could get awkward and extremely costly.<p>It’s incredible what has been built and maintained with a small team. I think they will see extreme diminishing returns after they hit a certain level of governance. Whether that’s going international with a nonprofit status in the US or at another point is beyond my level of expertise.<p>If someone more knowledgeable that I am can correct what I’ve written above and point out that my concerns are overblown, I’d be happy. I’d also ask that person to volunteer and help Lichess establish a presence in the US.<p>[1] <a href="https://www.councilofnonprofits.org/tools-resources/board-roles-and-responsibilities" rel="nofollow">https://www.councilofnonprofits.org/tools-resources/board-ro...</a>
> Therefore, in 2016, Lichess was formally registered under French law as an association loi 1901. This type of association applies to groups with clearly defined purposes that benefit the public, similar to charities. However, it’s quite easy to form one - the total number in France is over 1.5 million!<p>It is surprising that Lichess is a French charity, much like VLC. France also has a very low entry barrier for forming an LLC, so it seems to be a rather good approach all things considered.<p>> once we become an association of general interest, our French donors will be able to make tax-deductible donations, meaning they can reduce their individual tax burden through supporting us. In theory, this should also apply to donors who are citizens of other EU countries, but the last bit of legislation supporting EU-wide application was passed in 2009 and we’re still waiting for it to be cleanly implemented. Classic EU.<p>It really is a running theme that EU member state governments have to be dragged kicking and screaming to implement beneficial EU directives as local laws while they at the same time blame the EU for everything unpopular they do themselves. If that's not a clear indicator that the Parliament should have more authority to assert itself I don't know what is. At least we get the "project funded by the EU" signs on random buildings to not make the good stuff completely invisible on the local level.
tl; dr:<p>> We’ve also been looking into options to set up a charitable presence in the United States, by either partnering with an existing charity or helping to set up a new independent 501(c)(3) organisation to support free open source software/technology in chess.<p>> We know that we’ll need to talk to awesome accountants and lovely lawyers, especially for the 501(c)(3) initiative.<p>> As we grow, we’re going to need more help from our community, and especially from skilled professionals who aren’t necessarily developers. Would you like to help? Do you have experience or skills in finance/accounting, law, nonprofit administration, communications, or something else that we could use? If so, we invite you to complete this short survey: <a href="https://forms.gle/TAAja3MqnbJRGgea9" rel="nofollow">https://forms.gle/TAAja3MqnbJRGgea9</a> (closes at 2359 CEST on Sunday 13 November).
Related thread from not too long ago, discussing Lichess' operating budget:<p><a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29955204" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29955204</a> (<i>"It takes $420k per year to run Lichess"</i>)<p><a href="https://lichess.org/costs" rel="nofollow">https://lichess.org/costs</a> (a spreadsheet)
Good for them, seems like a good move. I always get nervous when I see one of these titles from a well respected charity: I assume that it'll be the announcement of a new direction for the organization, or the establishment of a for-profit arm. This is just lichess growing to give better benefits for donors, among other things. They deserve it.
I think it's incredibly responsible that they take governance seriously at a small organization like this. It'd be easy to take donations in some informal or crowdfunded way but going down the route of registering as a charity and having proper accounting and paperwork in place goes a long way to make sure people can be certain that their money is used well. In particular if the people running it ever change.
I moved from Yahoo Chess, to Chess.com then to Lichess, and I haven't looked back since. I hope they continue to make it work as good as it does now - however they do it.
> but the last bit of legislation supporting EU-wide application was passed in 2009 and we’re still waiting for it to be cleanly implemented. Classic EU.<p>Careful what you complain about...
TL;DR Lichess is a growing not-for-profit, it's awesome, and (last paragraph):<p>> you might be just the sort of person we’re looking for – someone who’s clearly passionate about all things Lichess, even the minutiae. As we grow, we’re going to need more help from our community, and especially from skilled professionals who aren’t necessarily developers. Would you like to help? Do you have experience or skills in finance/accounting, law, nonprofit administration, communications, or something else that we could use? If so, we invite you to complete this short survey: <a href="https://forms.gle/TAAja3MqnbJRGgea9" rel="nofollow">https://forms.gle/TAAja3MqnbJRGgea9</a>