[jasonkester]

While it's always nice to know your work benefits the world in general, the market is the market, so you'll need to pay for labor whether your company intends to make a profit or not.

So yeah, we're all happy to help. But please strike that sentence about not wanting to pay a market rate.

[francamps]

> But please strike that sentence about not wanting to pay a market rate.

I don't think I said or implied that, but if I did I wasn't accurate. Given the funding, grant-based model we have, we can't really pay for-profit tech market salaries without jeopardizing our whole mission. You can argue that then our model isn't right, and that's fine. I have a different opinion, but I understand what you mean.

That said, if you know of a funding structure that would let us do research work without worrying about profitability but rather on urgency and impact, I would love to learn about that.

[karmajunkie]

I didn't read a sentence about not wanting to pay a market rate. I read that they were not able to pay a market rate, and yet there is still a need for the work. If that doesn't speak to you, I don't blame you, but its disingenuous to make out like its merely a choice as to whether they have the funds available.

[jasonkester]

A non-profit has a budget for hiring, just as a scrappy startup has a budget for hiring, just as Facebook has a budget for hiring. The first two may try to spin a story about how they need to spread that budget farther because of $narrative, but really all they're doing is trying to pay you less money for your work.

Notice how they're not "not able" to pay market rate for things like power, rent, office furniture, and phone service to the building. Those things are only different from developer talent in that they are not willing to negotiate their rate down because of a story.

Developers should take a page from their book.

[ajamesm]

I worked at a non-profit that paid pennies on the dollar for their office space, specifically because the building's owner believed in their mission. If they had to pay the full price they probably wouldn't operate.

Do you not know what philanthropy is? Some people conceive of morality outside raw market forces.

[roystonvassey]

The 'market' isn't a homogeneous entity that has a single objective. There are enough folks who are motivated by other factors than just the paycheck.

As someone who has worked in non-profits, startups and corporations, the experience of working with non-profits, for me, was great because of the people and the nuanced challenges they work to solve. It was the happiest phase of my life/career so far.