Where the money comes from, where it goes, and what everyone gets paid.
As a taxable nonprofit rather than a 501(c)(3), porchstroll isn't required to publish much of anything. We're going to publish more than a charity would — not because we have to, but because trust on a platform like this is earned with specifics, not slogans.
porchstroll is a nonprofit by incorporation — a Maryland nonstock corporation with no stock, no owners, and no way to distribute profits to insiders. That much is structural, and it's the part we actually care about. But we are not a 501(c)(3), and we have no federal tax exemption. Three consequences worth stating plainly, because you shouldn't have to work them out yourself:
Any gift to porchstroll is not tax-deductible. We can't offer a deduction, because we don't hold the status that creates one.
There is no Form 990 to look up. We file IRS Form 1120, like any taxable corporation, and that return isn't public.
You won't find us in a charity database. Candid/GuideStar, Charity Navigator, and the BBB all run on 990 data, so none of them will have a record of us.
We're not asking you to take a government stamp's word for it. What we're doing instead is everything below: publishing the Articles, an annual financial summary, an independent audit, and what everyone gets paid.
A plain-language accounting of money in and money out — where revenue came from, what it cost to run porchstroll, and whether we ended the year in surplus or deficit. Written to be read, not to be hidden in a filing.
An outside accountant verifies the numbers, so you're not just taking our word for them. Each audit will be published here alongside that year's summary.
Most organizations treat pay as the one number they'll never show you. We're doing the opposite, because how an organization pays people tells you what it actually values.
We commit to three things: a pay-ratio cap — a fixed limit on how much more the highest-paid person can earn than the lowest-paid; published salary bands, so you can see the range for every role; and the founder's salary named, not buried. Directors will serve unpaid. The exact figures will appear here once set, and the policy itself will be adopted before any salary is paid.
Revenue comes from subscriptions, paid storage, marketplace fees, and a limited amount of non-targeted advertising. Extra storage costs money because storage genuinely costs us money. The exact tiers — including what's free — aren't final, and we'll publish them here before anyone is asked to pay. Nothing will be priced to punish you for being popular.
There is a limited amount of advertising: clearly labeled sponsored posts, capped at no more than one in every eight, the same size as a normal post, with no tracking and no profile built on you. The full detail is in the FAQ. And our near-term plan for funding the start is a small paid email app — a private mail client you buy once and own — whose proceeds we intend to put toward getting the nonprofit off the ground. It hasn't shipped yet, so it has earned nothing so far.
Nothing to report yet — and we'd rather say so. porchstroll hasn't launched, so there are no annual numbers to publish. This page exists now so the commitment is on the record before the first dollar moves. The first financial summary and audit will appear after our first operating year.
How these commitments are protected is on the governance page. Why any of this exists is in the founder's letter.