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by legofr 1636 days ago
> All other search engines that I've come across are for-profit. Please let me know if I've missed one!

https://www.ecosia.org/

https://ask.moe/

https://ekoru.org/

I remember seeing one more non-profit search engine on HN but can't seem to find it right now.

6 comments

Thanks, but these are not technically non-profit:

"Ecosia is a search engine based in Berlin, Germany. It donates 80% of its profits to nonprofit organizations that focus on reforestation" [1]

"80% of profits will be distributed among charities and non-profit organizations. The remaining 20% will be put aside for a rainy day." [2]

"Ekoru.org is a search engine dedicated to saving the planet. The company donates 60% of revenue generated from clicks on sponsored search results to partner organizations who work on climate change issues" [3]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecosia [2] https://ask.moe/ [3] https://www.forbes.com/sites/meimeifox/2020/01/19/how-the-se...

While Ecosia is not technically a non-profit, no one can sell Ecosia shares at a profit.

> Ecosia says that it was built on the premise that profits wouldn’t be taken out of the company. In 2018 this commitment was made legally binding when the company sold a 1% share to The Purpose Foundation, entering into a ‘steward-ownership’ relationship.

> The Purpose Foundation's steward-ownership of Ecosia legally binds Ecosia in the following ways: - Shares can't be sold at a profit or owned by people outside of the company and - No profits can be taken out of the company.

https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/technology/how-ethical-searc...

Seems like a reasonable approach is to use a b-corp where shareholders cannot sue for financial gains.
>I remember seeing one more non-profit search engine on HN but can't seem to find it right now.

Probably this one? "A search engine that favors text-heavy sites and punishes modern web design" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28550764 (3 months ago, 717 comments)

Oh that's interesting, I may try and get in touch with the author.
I just tried ask.moe, but it clearly noted that the search results were provided by Google
Also https://searchmysite.net/ for personal and independent websites (essentially a loss-leader for its open source self-hostable search as a service).
http://www.wiby.me/ is pretty good too.