Kickstarter now a Public Benefit Corporation, focusing on the greater good and

Kickstarter has long purported to be a mission-driven company, but it has just taken that commitment to a whole new level. A new corporate charter will guide the decisions for future company executives, said Kickstarter spokesman Justin Kazmark.

Becoming a benefit corporation does not mean the company is not-for-profit. Sacca said he believed there were other ways for shareholders to see returns from their investment in Kickstarter besides an acquisition or an initial public offering. “That’s why we reincorporated Kickstarter as a Benefit Corporation in 2015”.

With its latest action, Kickstarter joins a relatively small group of big-name companies that have taken the plunge to marry their idealism to their operational structure, including the eco-friendly cleaning products company Method and the outdoor-gear company Patagonia. Although Kickstarter will remain a for-profit entity, the legal designation ensures exactly what the company promises: that money would not interfere with the company’s goal of positive public impact.

Additionally, Kickstarter said it will donate 5% of its annual post-tax profits to arts education and social inequality organizations.

The idea, according to the crowdfunding site’s founders, is to shield Kickstarter’s mission – helping people finance creative projects – from the influence of investors and shareholders. Much of the push has been driven by millennials, both as consumers and employees, who are looking for companies to make social responsibility a part of everyday operations.

For other companies, some of the stipulations Kickstarter put into its charter as a public benefit corporation would be anathema.

“More and more voices are rejecting business as usual, and the pursuit of profit above all”, the company explains (via The Verge).

“We don’t ever want to sell or go public”. The company will release a report every year on its performance in that area. “We’ll all benefit from what’s created”. Instead it holds Kickstarter to higher standards of transparency, and requires the board explicitly to consider the public benefits of its decisions.

“As younger companies come up and think about how they operate and how they want to be structured, maybe they won’t be so easily be swept up by all the usual choices”, Chen said. So, as an owner of the stock, I feel comfortable that I will be rewarded for that. The first one will be available February 2016. Over a quarter million crowdfunding projects have been launched via its platform, including big name success stories like Pebble Watch, Coolest Cooler and the Veronica Mars Film.