7 Cups Non-Profit ?
Is 7 Cups a Non-Profit organization?
In the Spirit of Transparency, I would like to know
Hey @ChromeLotus !
No, 7cups is clearly a business, and always was transparent on it.
A few posts talk about it :
http://www.7cups.com/forum/GlensNook_84/Community_547/Making7CupsSustainable_29951/1/
http://www.7cups.com/forum/GlensNook_84/Community_547/Back7CupsPartIofMaking7CupsSustainable_31025/1/
also @GlenM can give you more details on it
@TortueDesBois
Thanks for answering (it's appreciated)
Being honest... I'm a little disappointed 7 Cups isn't a Non-Profit organization. Money can throw motives into question. I'm not implying that has happened (just raising the point)
That said... I DO applaud 7 Cups for offering free access, several free Services, and not accepting outside advertising. The mission and ideaology are Noble
@ChromeLotus
7cups wouldn't be able to run if it was nonprofit. A lot of what it does requires money to pay the bills. I thought I replied to this hours ago but I think I just thought it haha
The one thing 7 Cups does that I do find misleading (regarding it being a business rather than a non-profit) is that it does have what really amounts to a donation feature with "Back 7 Cups." A donation - er, "backing" 7 Cups - brings with it a leaf icon for you and someone you choose and unlocks a special "growth path." These are really tokens of thanks rather than things most people would recognize as providing value comparable to the money they are parting with. It exists mainly because 7 Cups as a business has not reached a point where it is fully viable on its own (and I will not speculate regardiing its likely trajectory, the soundness of the business model, etc. as I know little to nothing of such matters). I'm not sure whether there's still money remaining from the venture capital pot, but that is the main thing that allowed the site to exist in the first place, and kept it going through the first years.
So I just find it misleading because when you see what looks like a donation button, most people just assume that this is not a profit-seeking enterprise. Most businesses simply do not expect people to give them money out of a sense that they are doing good things, but 7 Cups seems to be asking people to do exactly that.
7 Cups is not a non-profit. They have never stated they are, and by people do profit from this website. However, they have made it in a way that gets people here for free. I can see the idea behind this all now, and its quite clever *wink* *wink*