Mozilla Foundation non-profit no more?
According to Techcrunch Mozilla Foundation is being audited by the IRS and its non-profit status is in question:
On the audit of the Foundation there has not been any formal notification of issues. There has been inquiry regarding its tax exemption. Management believes that it is conducting its operations in accordance with its original application for exemption and for which it received the advance ruling as a public benefit corporation.
Update:
Mike Beltzner wrote to me saying that the article is full of inaccuracies.
The Mozilla Corporation is not registered as a non-profit entity, pays taxes, receives revenues, etc. The Mozilla Foundation is a non-profit organization, and its status is not under question. Google does not provide funds to Mozilla as "charity"; it's a negotiated revenue deal, and they make more money off of the traffic generated than they pay to Mozilla. It's easy to forget that, but this is not a charity issue; it's an "affinity" revenue sharing deal.
November 20, 2008 09:01 AM | Posted in Mozilla
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2 Comments
So, sounds like the writer might be confusing Corporation and Foundation?
Comment by Simon at November 20, 2008 09:27 PM | Permalink
Henrik, the TechCrunch article is misleading, misinformed, and misreading the statements. These are the facts:
The Mozilla Corporation is not registered as a non-profit entity, pays taxes, receives revenues, etc.
The Mozilla Foundation is a non-profit organization, and its status is not under question.
Google does not provide funds to Mozilla as "charity"; it's a negotiated revenue deal, and they make more money off of the traffic generated than they pay to Mozilla. It's easy to forget that, but this is not a charity issue; it's an "affinity" revenue sharing deal.
I would appreciate it if you updated your summary to reflect the fact that you're linking to an article rife with inaccuracies.