The Seasteading Institute is pleased to announce that it has received its Letter of Determination from the Internal Revenue Service, stating that we are exempt from Federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Among the many benefits this allows, donations to us are tax-deductible (including past ones). The IRS has also determined that we are classified as a public charity.
We thank our generous donors for their initial support, especially Peter Thiel, whose $500K contribution in early 2008 has been our primary source of funding. Now that we have received this determination, new areas of development are open to us, such as government and foundation grants. In conjunction with our existing strategy and timeline, we will be creating a development plan to sustain this new movement over the long years that will be necessary to make our vision a reality.
Patri Friedman, Executive Director and Co-Founder, says: “The Seasteading Institute was founded to conduct the basic research and education necessary to develop the technology of seasteading and build a community around this bold new vision of human advancement. Our tax-exempt status recognizes the charitable nature of these efforts.”
We still need your support, so please consider joining TSI as a member or directly funding a research project to help open the oceans as the next frontier for human development. If you’re interested in learning more about seasteading, consider attending our upcoming conference, September 28-30, in San Francisco, CA.
This release can be linked as https://seasteading.org/stay-in-touch/press-releases/tsi-receives-501c3-tax-exempt-status
Press Inquiries:
https://seasteading.org/learn-more/press
General Inquiries:
https://seasteading.org/
About TSI: The Seasteading Institute is a California nonprofit corporation that tax exempt under Section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code. TSI’s mission is to establish permanent, autonomous ocean communities to enable experimentation and innovation with diverse social, political, and legal systems.
Congratulations!
You guys are doing amazing work, and there are many who will find it promising that there are some willing to tackle this engineering feat.
When I finally get down to California in 6-8 years I’ll be a little late, but hopefully I’ll be able to contribute.
Good luck to you and the rest of the TSI team,
Jeff
Slightly off topic, but here’s an economic thought experiment:
If charitible donations were made fully tax-offsetting, including against social(ist) (in)security, medicare, income tax, then that would put the government in direct competition with private charities. That would tend to put pressure on the government to improve its efficiency to the level of private charities or lose the services to the more efficient private charity providers.
For example the proportion of administrators of Catholic schools in New York City is a tiny fraction (a few percent) of the proportion of administrators of public schools in the same districts. Guess which schools provide a better education at a lower fully-burdened cost? Hint: it’s not the government ones.
A great achievement for The Seasteading Institute to be exempted from the Federal Income Tax under Section 501(c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code. It means that TSI will not be able to get benefits donations to be tax deductible!! They are also eligible for government and foundation grants which will help them to work more seriously and without financial constraints on the basic research and education necessary to develop technology of seasteading and develop a community around it!! Great work being done them and due recognition given!