They're calling it the "reverse OpenAI."

John and I announced this week that the educational media company we started over 15 years ago is becoming a non-profit organization. This is a decision we made quite a while ago, but there were a lot of hoops to jump through to actually make it happen. But now the world knows, and the reception has been really wonderful. We've had many kind comments and a not insignificant number of founding donations.

If there's been any pushback, it's been from people asking, "Well, if you didn't ever take profit out of Complexly, how does this actually change anything?"

I've had a bunch of thoughts about this while making this decision with John, Julie, and the rest of Complexly, but I was just on a phone call with someone, and I had a thought that clarified it even further.

Now, first of all, there are good practical reasons. We can take tax-deductible donations. The Crash Course Coin campaign will just make more sense functionally. When people ask, "Wait, am I donating to your profit distribution?" we don't have to explain that John and I (the sole owners) elect not to take profit distributions.

But there's something bigger than that. As long as we were a for-profit company, the door was always open to us acting more and more like a for-profit company. That's fine, honestly. If we had wanted to go that direction, I think we could have done plenty of good that way. But it also kept us from making certain decisions because they felt a little too much like closing the door on someday becoming a non-profit. We've never wanted to build infrastructure around our videos because that felt too much like heading off in the start-up direction. That might sound a little silly, and maybe it is, but now we know that we /can't/ do that.

This opens up a lot of doors for us to do things that are just about impact that might have otherwise been really hard to do without prioritizing profit.

With any huge decision, there's a time when making the choice is a bad call because you want to leave your options open. But eventually that point passes, and "keeping your options open" is actually holding you back. I think we could have done this a little sooner, but it feels like we got the timing pretty close to right, which feels very good.

Remember, having your options open doesn't really do you any good unless, eventually, you choose one of your options. And once you choose, you're through the door, and then things can get a whole lot clearer.

Thanks so much to everyone for your support this week. It has felt very, very good.

And if you'd like to get Complexly's newsletter, or donate, you can check out our new website at Complexly.org. That's right, DOT ORG!!!

Hank

William Foege, who sadly died last month, is one of the reasons why this map ends in the 1970s.

The physician and epidemiologist is best known for his pivotal role in the global strategy to eradicate smallpox, a horrific disease estimated to have killed 300 million people.

Despite the world having an effective vaccine for more than a century, smallpox was still widespread across many parts of Africa and Asia in the mid-20th century.

Foege played a crucial role in developing the “ring vaccination strategy”, which focused on vaccinating people around each identified case, rather than attempting a population-wide vaccination strategy, which was difficult in countries with limited resources.

This strategy, combined with increased global funding efforts and support for local health programs, paved the way: country after country declared itself free of smallpox. You can see this drop-off through the decades in the map.

The disease was declared globally eradicated in 1980.

William Foege and his colleagues’ contributions are credited with saving millions, if not tens of millions of lives.

For over a decade, Complexly has created educational content rooted in curiosity, accuracy, and trust, and we’re excited to announce that Complexly is now a 501c3 nonprofit!

As a nonprofit built on the idea that good information is worth it, we can keep making the educational videos that matter most. Learn how you can support our ongoing work at Complexly.org.

In the latest College Journeys episode, John sits down with journalist Joss Fong to talk candidly about his relationship to education. From being labeled a “gifted” kid, to embracing a bad-boy phase, to struggling with anxiety and OCD, John reflects on how great teachers and curiosity-driven classes reignited his love of learning and helped him find his voice as a writer. But before he became an acclaimed author, he was enrolled in divinity school with the goal of becoming a preacher! Find out what diverted him from that path and how he became a YouTuber/philanthropist instead.

Thinky Dailies (by Thinky Games)

SpellCheck.xyc (by Answer in Progress)

Download Gubbins on iOS or Android!

If you post your results on social media, we’d love it if you post a link for folks to subscribe to “We’re Here” (https://werehere.beehiiv.com/subscribe)

Last week, we shared art that featured the saying, “I am a museum of everything I’ve ever loved.” Thank you to everyone who shared the things their museum is made of with us!

TBFighters is a community of Nerdfighters and global health activists committed to fighting the structural causes of tuberculosis. TB has been curable for decades, but continues to kill 1.2 million people each year because of human choices.

TBFighters have brand new merch! This merch is being sold at cost with the goal of increasing awareness about TB.

In honor of the Project for Awesome livestream being one week away, tell us one of your favorite P4A memories. If you’ve never participated, let us know what you’re looking forward to about this year’s P4A!