@anarchiv @mellifluousbox What do you mean?

@Gargron @mellifluousbox
Oh wait this was sincere, was it?

@anarchiv @mellifluousbox What was?

@uniq @lucas @BollerwagenPicard most importantly: managing risk. If you do everything with your private money, you are liable with all your private money. In contrast, a (g)GmbH is liable only up to its share capital (basically the money the company "owns", the share capital of a (g)GmbH is at least 25 k€), so your personal ability to survive (, house, car, yacht) is not on the line. GmbH is basically comparable to LLC or Ltd in anglophone countries.

@jums Yes. Lifted from Wikipedia: "A gemeinnützige Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung (gGmbH) is a special form of a limited liability company with a charitable purpose. [..] They are required to spend any profits by the end of the fiscal year it was accrued, and are allowed to build capital reserves totaling 10 percent of annual donations or 33 percent of dividends received."

@Gargron

@galaxis @Gargron thx ! I didnt get that "gGmbH" was a legal entity and not just a random name.

@jums @galaxis @gargron

quite similar to a Community Interest Company in the UK (the two community radio stations in my area operate in this form).

Although the German version has slightly more strict rules about the use of profits and capital reserves (ours has a similar intention but doesn't state exact figures although the company must declare what positive social impact it has achieved each year along with the usual financial statements)

@vfrmedia interesting. What's the point of declaring your social impact ? Is there a threshold or a sanction if there is not "enough" ?

@jums what happens to the profits and the directors and other staff salaries also have to be declared, there are rules on what can be done with the assets as well and a government regulator (so there are various potential sanctions, on top of those that could already be handed to directors of a limited company who do not comply with their statutory obligations)

(the whole set of info about how it works is at the link below)

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/community-interest-companies-how-to-form-a-cic

@vfrmedia thx!

@jums @galaxis Actually it's not a German invention, in the US it's called b-corp:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B_Corporation_%28certification%29?wprov=sfla1

@uniq @jums @galaxis no, b-corps are for profit companies while gGmbh's are not for profit, like 501c3 companies in America

@nightpool @jums @galaxis Oh, I stand corrected. 😄

@jums Having capital doesn't necessarily imply creating profit. Just having the means for production.