# Comments from Wayne Sibly of GroupVine on NPO Buyout Idea

- Author: Joichi Ito
- Date: 1999-10-03T14:37:04Z


Date: Sun, 03 Oct 1999 15:37:04 -0400 
From: "Wayne Silby"
To: Joichi Ito 
Subject: Re: NPO Buyouts and Sustainable Communities 

Joichi- I liked the article on NPO buyouts and Sustainable Communities. It 
  echoes some of the concerns that I have about the Net. Basically, almost every 
  major player is there to get your credit card in some manner or fashion. And 
  you make a good point about not being able to attract the talent that is now 
  so concerned with stock options during this gold rush.
 Of course we are in the same boat and we have investors who want the big returns 
  for the high risk. Given some of my social change background, we have some desire 
  to focus on the non-profit market. I am thinking of going to some of the foundations 
  in the US that might be able to bridge this issue by financing and manifesting 
  some of our work in the collaborative tools space. 
The added value of working in this space might be that nonprofit share a common 
  do good mission as opposed to focusing on profits. Accordingly, though some 
  may argue with this, they may be ripe for the knowledge management tools that 
  could be applied ACROSS their different organizations without fearing the consequences 
  of sharing knowledge. We have one such application in development that is about 
  people sharing their contacts, using our GroupDOT platform.
 But I don't know where the "governance" controls are. In the mutual fund industry 
  the users own the fund but make a contract with the manager. This contract must 
  be approved annually. Perhaps some kind of user group committee is created, 
  which might include a few representatives from management, that approves the 
  contract with the "managers." They take into account profit margins, etc. Of 
  course there are standard models in the mutual fund industry and our Internet 
  industry now has no such standards for proper community management. This user 
  group might approve of the kinds of ads that are placed, how often, fees and 
  charges for special services, and full disclosure and review of sensitive content 
  issues. Occasionally the user group may even authorize extra charges for a new 
  service that they want for their groups. 
What is accomplished by the above is that you don't get a non-profit mentality 
  going among the managers. They need ways to win and create value and take responsibility. 
  And the big "win" for the managers is that the community becomes more trustworthy 
  with these controls, which will eventually keep and attract the choice users. 
  I am both chairman of Calvert Funds but also sit on the holding company board 
  of the Management company. It's an interesting dynamic and balancing act. But 
  $3 trillion dollars has been entrusted to mutual funds, partly as a result of 
  this way that trust it built. Of course this is also monitored by the SEC, but 
  generally it is a self regulating industry. 
Thanks for allowing me to share this and you may pass on these remarks as you 
  see fit. Again, the key for me is to focus on the "standards" that the user 
  group oversight board might develop in determining what's appropriate for revenue 
  generation from the community but maintains the proper level of integrity.
 Wayne Silby 





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Economics