Kickstarter became a Public Benefit Corporation (PBC) in September 2015, formally placing its creative mission and public-benefit commitments alongside its commercial operation. The move did not make Kickstarter a nonprofit or establish that it put profits below culture in measurable financial terms. It was a change to how the for-profit company said its leaders should weigh decisions.
What Kickstarter changed in 2015
On September 21, 2015, Kickstarter announced that Kickstarter Inc. had become Kickstarter PBC. The company described a benefit corporation as a for-profit company obligated to consider the impact of decisions on society as well as shareholders. That was Kickstarter’s description of the corporate form in its announcement, not a universal legal definition across jurisdictions. Kickstarter’s announcement said the change would put its mission into its goals and help guide future leadership.
The change was about corporate governance: what the company said its leadership should take into account when running the platform. Kickstarter remained a for-profit business. Backers did not thereby become owners of Kickstarter, and the decision did not mean that creators using the platform rejected commercial success.
What “monoculture” meant to Kickstarter’s cofounder
The phrase in the headline comes from Yancey Strickler, Kickstarter’s cofounder and CEO at the time. In a 2015 interview with VentureBeat, Strickler used “monoculture” to describe a world of “the same-same,” in which people and companies optimize for money. He argued for greater cultural diversity and a wider range of models for entrepreneurs, businesses, artists, and creators.
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Strickler said, “We believe a universe driven only by profit maximization can be poisonous.” That is his stated philosophy, not evidence that Kickstarter abandoned profit as a business objective or that its PBC status produced a particular financial result.
What the charter committed Kickstarter to do
Kickstarter’s 2015 announcement described commitments to support artists and creative work, act ethically in areas the company considered vulnerable to profit-driven choices, and donate 5% of annual post-tax profits to arts and music education and organizations fighting inequality. It also pledged to assess its performance against its commitments each year. The company’s charter continues to set out these commitments.
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The 5% pledge is tied to post-tax profits, so it is not a fixed annual dollar amount. Kickstarter’s 2021 benefit-statement announcement reported that the company had donated $525,000 to 37 organizations through the pledge. That is a dated company-reported figure, not a statement of current or annual giving. Kickstarter’s 2021 announcement also said that nearly 3.2 million people pledged more than $800 million that year, almost 20,000 creative projects were funded, and 54% of projects reached their funding goal.
How the platform fits—and does not fit—the argument
The dispute was about Kickstarter’s own corporate priorities, not the ownership rights of people who backed projects. In the platform model described in 2015 reporting, a pledge was charged only after a project met its stated target. Backers received no ownership stake or share of future project profits, and creators remained responsible for delivering the work. Those details describe the model at that time; anyone planning a campaign should check Kickstarter’s current rules for current terms.
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Outbyte Driver Updater FREEFix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Outbyte PC Repair FREERepair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Kickstarter’s scale helps explain why its stated mission mattered to the company, but historical totals should not be mistaken for current ones. VentureBeat reported in 2015 that Kickstarter had passed $2 billion in pledges and 10 million people. Kickstarter’s current About page says more than 26 million people from every continent have helped fund projects; that is a company-reported cumulative figure, not an independently audited total.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the public-benefit reports can—and cannot—show
Kickstarter continues to describe itself as a PBC and publishes benefit statements. Its 2024 benefit-statement page says the report covers support for creators, changes to internal mechanisms and the platform, safety and privacy, and contributions to causes. A report’s existence and stated scope are evidence of a reporting process; they do not, by themselves, establish that every commitment achieved its intended outcome.
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The record supports a narrow conclusion: Kickstarter put its stated creative mission and public-benefit commitments into its corporate framework in 2015, and it continues to describe itself as a PBC and publish benefit statements. The cited material does not establish that the choice raised or lowered profits, prove a causal social impact, or show that public benefit displaced profit as a business objective. The title’s “above profits” language captures Strickler’s critique of profit maximization; it is not a measured financial finding.
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