> I haven't looked too deeply into it, but my understanding is that it's not possible to create an equivalent corporation in Italy (where I reside) nor the rest of Europe.

You certainly did not look deep enough. ;)

Ask Mr Google about gGmbH in Germany, for example.

Honestly, I would be incredibly surprised if every single European country does not already have a non-profit structure.

In addition, do not forget that in some countries you might also have the option of being non-profit not through legal-form (e.g. gGmbH in Germany) but via your articles of association, i.e. you set up a "standard" company and then formally declare it a non-profit. This is something your friendly local company lawyer would be need to help with as it requires the correct words to be drafted into your articles if you want e.g. the tax authorities to correctly recognise your status.

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kristoff_it 6 hours ago | parent [-]

Sure we have non profit companies also in Europe, the question if it's possible to create one to support an Open Source project, and which tax benefits donors can get.

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traceroute66 6 hours ago | parent [-]

> the question if it's possible to create one to support an Open Source project, and which tax benefits donors can get.

As the old saying goes ... what has that got to do with the price of eggs ?

A non-profit is a non-profit, doesn't matter if you are supporting Open Source or the community homeless.

Same goes for donors. A donation is a donation.

Codeberg e.v. (a.k.a. Forgejo) is one example that comes to mind, but I'm sure there are many others.

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kristoff_it 6 hours ago | parent [-]

My experience with the US tax system is that you need to get approval to get non-profit status, and more in general I do think this has something to do with the price of eggs in the sense that you should obviously be prevented from being able to setup a non-profit company if what you're doing has nothing charitable about it.

I made the mistake of leaving this unsaid, but 501c3 in the US also means that the company is tax exempt, which is the actual concrete thing I was implicitly asking about.

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traceroute66 4 hours ago | parent [-]

> My experience with the US tax system is that you need to get approval to get non-profit status,

I think in the majority of European cases you don't need prior approval. The UK is most likely the biggest exception where you can become either a non-profit or a charity. And if you want to become a charity in the UK, then yes there are more hoops to jump thorugh including approval from Charity Commission.

But for Germany for example, you can just go setup a gGmbH which is simply a non-profit/charitable form of the standard GmbH. The only difference is what you put in your articles of association and how you register with the tax authorities, but you don't need prior authorisation for either, you just apply for the status with the tax authorities post-formation.

Whether non-profit or charity you get tax exemption on both in Europe. The only difference is in the donor experience in some places (e.g. in the UK to get a personal tax break you have to donate to a charity, not a non-profit).

But as above, I think the UK is the exception to the rule, I suspect in most EU countries it is closer to being non-profit == charity with no differentiation.

	▲	kristoff_it an hour ago \| parent [-]
		I see, thank you for the info!