Kickstarter, the popular crowd funding platform used by many budding entrepreneurs and creatives, has just announced that they are reincorporating themselves into a public benefit corporation. The decision reaffirms the company's commitment of providing a 'positive impact' to society.
Starting today, the company will no longer be known as Kickstarter Inc. but rather Kickstarter PBC.
Founders Yancey Stricker, Perry Chen, and Charles Adler published a letter on the company's official website outlining their reasons for the move and plans for the future.
Benefit Corporations are for-profit companies that are obligated to consider the impact of their decisions on society, not only shareholders. Radically, positive impact on society becomes part of a Benefit Corporation's legally defined goals. When a company becomes a Benefit Corporation, it can choose to make further commitments. In our new charter (shown below) we spell out our mission, our values, and the commitments we have made to pursue them.
Some of the company's promised initiatives are as follows:
We've spelled out a specific list of values and commitments we'll live by: We renew our longstanding commitment to arts and culture. We declare how we plan to conduct ourselves in situations that are often swayed by profit motives. And we newly commit to donate 5% of annual post-tax profits to arts education and organizations fighting inequality.
The company has also modified its charter to reflect its new mission and goals. That list can be seen here.
Kickstarter is the most recognizable name in the fast growing crowdfunding market that includes the likes of Patreon and Indiegogo.
Some of the success stories the platform has spawned include the likes of wearable tech brand Pebble and Android gaming console Ouya,
The company has also funded many successful films and video games. Examples include this year's Veronica Mars movie and the upcoming game Shenmue III.
