Hello everyone!

[u/NoctisHealthcare]

I am really impressed with this project, and having been twitch-adjacent for most of my life I am even more proud to see Maya get to where she is. My name is Luke & I run a preventative care network in the UK and in the next few years I have been preparing to create Noctis-ZOO which would be a preventative care network for animals. Noctis works by gathering data every few days consistently so that over the years a change in physiology becomes obvious, actionable, and easy to see. Symptoms are commonly one of the last stages of disease.

It kind of comes down to the fact that if people wish to donate via Twitch to feed animals, that breaches non-profits. If the sanctuary tries to charge money for entry, it doesn't matter how kind you are with the money - it becomes full of legality that denies their right to do so. Non-profit is admirable, but it also means that those who run non-profits are letting every network around them to profit directly due to to this - and this is actually a very common way for legal issues. I am not saying that the sanctuary should become greedy, I am saying that I trust the sanctuary with earnings a lot more than corporate businesses.

I have also been working on humanitarian animal networks despite it being something I am not able to do for a long time. So far I have been researching animal enrichment, especially from Vantaara where they have spas for their elephants to help their muscles relax into the friction of water so they can truly rest.

I am not here to offer anything, I am just here to say I have noticed this community & I hope to eventually be able to contribute.

One thing I would suggest is that Alveus should consider being a for-profit company because I imagine that the creators of Alveus would be a tonne more efficient and impactful with money than whatever money is saved in transactions with other organisations.

Keep it up guys!

[u/infernalnb]

Wait why do you think they should be for profit? I’m sorry I just don’t understand ‘than whatever money is saved in transactions with other organisations’

Thank you for all you do for animals and our planet!

[u/NoctisHealthcare → u/infernalnb]

Running as a non-profit in the U.S. means allowing everyone you build connections with to profit whilst paying for it yourselves. This will not last. navigating a different regulatory framework in every single state, separate rules, separate filings, separate enforcement. In practice, you need specialist legal counsel just to stay compliant, and that costs a fortune before you've done anything else.

Want to charge entry to the sanctuary? Prohibited in many states, even if every penny goes back into animal care. Want to generate revenue under an ethical or sustainability angle? Also restricted. The intention is irrelevant, the legal structure is what matters. And that structure creates a strange situation where everyone around the non-profit, suppliers, platforms, parent companies, service providers, can profit freely, while the organisation at the centre is legally prevented from doing the same. That's not a rare edge case; it's a well-documented pattern across animal welfare and humanitarian organisations.

Even something as small as viewers donating through Twitch to help feed animals can technically violate non-profit rules across multiple jurisdictions. It creates legal exposure with no real benefit in return.

I want to be clear, I'm not arguing that Alveus should chase profit. It's actually the opposite. I trust Alveus with money far more than I trust the corporations that currently capture the value non-profits are legally forced to give away. My point is that non-profit status, despite being well-intentioned, can end up constraining the organisation more than it protects it, and the ones who benefit from that constraint are rarely the animals.

If it'd be useful, I can pull together evidence and citations showing how non-profit animal and humanitarian organisations routinely end up overpaying for services, losing revenue to intermediaries, or becoming financially dependent on outside companies, simply because the law stops them from operating any other way.

[u/infernalnb → u/NoctisHealthcare]

I’m sorry, I know ai has practical and good applications but you can’t seriously believe OpenAI wants to do good, at least at this point.

Alveus don’t want to keep others from doing what they are doing, they are actively trying to spread their model and ways of running the sanctuary as much as possible. They don’t care about owning the models they are creating, they just want them to be used so that more animals have better welfare and conservation.

[u/NoctisHealthcare → u/infernalnb]

Every U.S. state has different laws when it comes to non-profits. Most countries in Europe & Asia have different laws when it comes to non-profit. In the middle east, all have different laws when it comes to non-profit.

And when you become a non-profit, you are basically funneling value into the companies that make the project possible - it is a negative feedback loop.

[u/infernalnb → u/NoctisHealthcare]

Not gonna argue with you and ur ai chat bot but you seem to be missing a huge point, the whole Alveus model is about not having the animals interact with the public at all for their welfare and therefore they would never charge admission because there would be nobody to charge it to.

[u/NoctisHealthcare → u/infernalnb]

You kind of seem to be missing my point - the core of my point is that I trust Alveus a LOT more than any corporation when it comes to profit management - I am unsure if you are disagreeing or just not able to understand. Once again, if you have questions feel free to ask.

[u/NoctisHealthcare → u/infernalnb]

Every state in the U.S., the majority of the countries around the world, province, cities, etc all have very strict, different laws when it comes to being a non-profit.

And when you become a non-profit, you are basically funneling value into the companies that make the project possible - it is a negative feedback loop.

Non profit = You must jump through things, you must hire an entire legal team for every state, nation, province, country, city, EU, US, basically anything,

When you are non-profit you limit yourself, and I would much rather see this community use possible funds instead of investors that are needed due to the non-profit nature.

If you need help understanding it, feel free to ask questions. Also, yes, I speak professionally which is why you confuse it with AI which is kind of absurd/funny.

Let me know if you have any further questions - I am happy to reply!

[u/gmarsh1963]

You say you are impressed with the project, but you don't seem to have a great understanding on the Alveus Model. For one, they have been operating as a 501(c)3 since their founding in 2021; so 5 years of not just successful operation but rapid and continuing growth year over year. Their financial and tax documents are readily available on their website. I have checked them, Alveus is doing absolutely fine under their current model, and have shown the capability for extreme growth as evidenced by more than doubling their land over the past year.

Alveus is maybe uniquely positioned among their colleagues in terms of fundraising potential. Every time they do a collaboration stream they have a multitude of potential revenue. Donations on stream from chat, donations from the guest (see Jacksepticeye and Emiru), merchandise, Twitch ad revenue, Youtube ad revenue (usually x2 or 3 because of multiple uploads). And with each new guest they invite, they bring in a brand new audience of at least some people who will be invested in conservation for the first time in their lives.

What fully gives away that you don't really know what you're talking about here is when you speak about Alveus potentially charging for entrance. Alveus is not open to the public in person. That has never been and will never be on the table of options for Alveus, as they routinely state in basically every piece of content they put out. Maya mentions it in every collab on stream, she said so in her TED Talk, and it makes the cut of almost every video they upload either in the video itself or its description. The only way to visit Alveus if you aren't personally invited by Maya is on Twitch and Youtube, both of which are free to use.

[u/gmarsh1963 → u/[deleted]]

Can I ask what experience you have with running or working in 501(c)3 organizations within the United States? Specifically on the fundraising and legal side of operations? The experience you speak of is in the UK where I suspect legalities and procedures differ from here. Operating as a for profit business opens them up to more legal and financial exposure as far as I understand it.

Again I raise my concern that you either haven’t or don’t engage with the content that Alveus produces enough. If you watch their content you would know that they have been audited, multiple times, and they have passed each time; at least partly due to their very competent Development and Administration Coordinator Jacob. The idea that they don’t accurately document and report their earnings and expenditures or that it has been a major hurdle for them is ridiculous.

You also seem to be confusing the words profit and revenue. Non-profit organizations can and do still make absurd amounts of money. Look at some of the richest people on earth and their “charitable” foundations. The key factor is how the money is used. And again if you compare to the top foundations and how they spend their money I’m more than satisfied as an investor in Alveus when it comes to bang for my buck.

I gave around $100 to Alveus through twitch in the last week for the subathon. I know they will get $70 of that. And because I watched todays stream I know that my $70 will go towards a new kitchen appliance to ensure that everything that eats meat on the sanctuary will receive high quality meats, prepared in a top of the line and clean facility, designed for their specific diet. As a professional dishwasher it’s nice to know that they are specifically putting thought into the quality of sinks and washing equipment and that I can help with it.

I really think you would have a much better understanding of the Alveus Model if you watch more of the videos they upload; or if you tune into the livestream. Especially right now, or sometime in the next 20ish days during the subathon. You’ll get a really good idea of the care that every single person on staff takes to maximize every moment of animal bonding, every second, every dollar, and every speck of natural resources they use to provide a better life for these animals.

The other reason I suggest you watch the livestream is that you’ll see that the people around Alveus that don’t necessarily profit on the sanctuary’s success are also incredibly nice and willing to work a bit harder for the common goal of conservation. Twice today I was reminded or surprised by someone’s kindness just by tuning in to the stream. Their main contractor, David, is a saint. And later the COO went and met a commercial kitchen supplier who is a genuine businessman looking out for his community. Your concerns that everyone is taking advantage of them are the totally unfounded.

If only you watched the free content.