Last month, we printed a weblog about Lichess’s charity nonprofit standing. In this publish, we need to dive deeper into Lichess’s historical past, how we’re presently arrange, and our plans for the long run.

Between 2010 and 2016, nearly all of Lichess’s prices had been coated by Lichess’s founder and fundamental developer Thibault Duplessis. Lichess on the time was an affiliation de fait, a fundamental affiliation kind that doesn’t require a proper authorized construction. 

However, at the same time as early as 2015 it was apparent that this wasn’t sustainable, as by that time the positioning’s month-to-month working prices had grown to 1000’s of {dollars} per 30 days.

(Photo by micheile dot com on Unsplash)

Therefore, in 2016, Lichess was formally registered beneath French regulation as an affiliation loi 1901. This kind of affiliation applies to teams with clearly outlined functions that profit the general public, just like charities. However, it’s fairly simple to kind one – the overall quantity in France is over 1.5 million!

Like all French associations, Lichess has a proper constitution that units out the way it works for the general public profit. Our official objective is “to promote and encourage the teaching and practice of the game of chess and its variants” (“promouvoir et favoriser l’enseignement et la pratique du jeu d’échecs et de ses variantes”).

Lichess’s affiliation standing offers us authorized recognition, entry to banking providers, and the power to make use of employees and hire or personal property. We additionally need to pay our justifiable share of employer taxes and social safety contributions for our three salaried workers with everlasting contracts, considered one of whom is Thibault. We additionally pay some further workforce members for his or her work in key areas akin to improvement, content material/group, common operations and web site moderation, however they’re technically contractors, not workers; in whole our finances covers the equal of round seven full-time positions. 

In phrases of total governance, the Lichess affiliation presently has two trustees who’re accountable for making certain all its authorized necessities are met. These are broadly just like charity necessities in different international locations. For occasion, it’s essential that Lichess solely makes use of its assets to assist its acknowledged charitable functions; no different use is permitted.

The previous couple of years have seen vital developments in how Lichess is run as an organisation. We’ve retained the providers of a French accountancy agency to assist us handle our funds, whereas beforehand we relied on inner bookkeeping. Our accountants are accountable for compiling and signing off our annual accounts, that are then reviewed by an unbiased auditor. While we have to do that to fulfill the necessities for the next charity designation (defined under), it additionally supplies essential oversight and reassurance, demonstrating that all the pieces we obtain goes to assist our targets. 

(Photo by Wesley Tingey on Unsplash)

Recently, we have additionally strengthened our inner processes by, for instance, conducting inner mini-audits utilizing respected checklists to establish areas the place we already conform with greatest observe but additionally areas the place we will try to do higher. A small group throughout the workforce meets commonly to debate monetary issues, and related teams and fora exist to debate different essential matters akin to web site moderation and technique. Committees, phrases of reference, agendas, minutes… Sure, all of it might sound moderately boring and dare we are saying “corporate”, however good governance isn’t simply important to our future, it additionally serves one of the best pursuits of our customers, and so we have to do issues correctly. 

In addition to being an affiliation loi 1901, Lichess is eligible to be in a barely greater tier generally known as an affiliation d’intérêt général (“association [charity] of general interest”) – and in reality we’re presently finishing the paperwork for it. The label applies to organisations that work for a broad public curiosity – broader than a typical group sports activities membership or native charity. General curiosity associations additionally must have no less than 200 members and no less than €46,000 deposited within the financial institution. That’s not a problem for us, as that’s round what it prices to run Lichess every month!

There’s really an excellent greater charity designation obtainable in France: the affiliation reconnue d’utilité publique (“recognised association of public utility”). This is for charities with a very worldwide scope that may credibly declare to learn the broader public, akin to Medecins sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) and the Red Cross. Ultimately, that is what we’re aiming for. 

What’s the purpose of the completely different tiers? Well, a charity’s designation demonstrates excessive ranges of accountability and transparency, and the upper designations additionally present additional advantages to donors. For instance, as soon as we turn out to be an affiliation of common curiosity, our French donors will be capable of make tax-deductible donations, which means they will scale back their particular person tax burden by means of supporting us. In concept, this must also apply to donors who’re residents of different EU international locations, however the final little bit of laws supporting EU-wide software was handed in 2009 and we’re nonetheless ready for it to be cleanly applied. Classic EU.  

(Photo by Erik Mclean on Unsplash – Sorry EU, we respect you, actually, even if you’re a bit sluggish…)

We’ve additionally been trying into choices to arrange a charitable presence within the United States, by both partnering with an present charity or serving to to arrange a brand new unbiased 501(c)(3) organisation to assist free open supply software program/expertise in chess. This would permit US donors to make tax-deductible donations, and it may additionally assist increase the worldwide profile of our mission and actions. It will take quite a lot of work although, and we’ve solely began the journey. Hopefully we’ll be capable of say extra about this quickly!

We know that it gained’t be simple to realize these ambitions. We know that we’ll want to speak to superior accountants and beautiful attorneys, particularly for the 501(c)(3) initiative. We know we’ll in all probability want to finish kinds and produce experiences, together with annual finish of 12 months experiences (which is one thing we need to do anyway). We know that every one of this may improve our admin prices. 

But we additionally see this as an thrilling alternative to make Lichess stronger. After all, we need to take away boundaries that forestall individuals from enjoying chess, learning chess, studying chess and discovering free open supply software program (FOSS). We imagine that what we’ve constructed – the fruits of centuries of collective collaboration – needs to be free for anybody to entry. And by ‘free’, we imply free each as in freedom (libre) and in addition as in worth (free of charge). No trackers. No advertisements. We need to equitably assist the chess group (gamers, content material creators, professionals, and so forth) in addition to the broader FOSS ecosystem. We perceive that these things won’t be as thrilling as speaking a few new characteristic, however we hope that our group and our supporters can respect its significance.

In truth, if you happen to’ve managed to get this far, you is likely to be simply the kind of particular person we’re in search of – somebody who’s clearly captivated with all issues Lichess, even the trivialities. As we develop, we’re going to want extra assist from our group, and particularly from expert professionals who aren’t essentially builders. Would you want to assist? Do you’ve got expertise or expertise in finance/accounting, regulation, nonprofit administration, communications, or one thing else that we might use? If so, we invite you to finish this brief survey: https://kinds.gle/TAAja3MqnbJRGgea9 (closes at 2359 CEST on Sunday 13 November).

To quote Lester Freamon, “We’re building something, here, detective, we’re building it from scratch. All the pieces matter.”

(Title picture by Stable Diffusion, licensed beneath CC0 1.0)