"this is a not-for-profit organisation, so 'business model' is a bit of a loaded term"
This particular not-for-profit may have no business model, i.e. no revenue outside of donations.
But there are many not-for-profit entities that rely on services/fees (as opposed to donations) to fund their operations. For many of these non-profits, the main things that distinguish them from for-profit companies is that:
A) The founders don't get rich from an exit. They (and their cronies) get rich from buying their own services.
B) They can more easily get contracts from government entities that can for-profit companies. Because somehow people see outsourcing to for-profit companies as 'privatization', but outsourcing to non-profits as supporting the local economy.
Let's not grow this thing into something bigger than it is - it's effectively a nice book club focussed on philosophy, and which had 115 readers as of June last year.
It looks lovely, and looks like they have great growth, but let's not blow it out of proportion.
I was responding to part of your comment, which seemed to assert that "not-for-profit" is inconsistent with "business model".
I pointed out that many non-profits do have business models. But I was careful to point out that this may not apply to The Catherine Project ("This particular not-for-profit may have no business model, i.e. no revenue outside of donations.").
Sure, not for profits can have a business model. Apologies - I thought we were discussing in the context of the article.
But yeah, of course, anyone can have a business model including not for profits, I think it just implies something that is heavily formalised and 'bigger' than it is (even though a business model could technically just be as simple as 'get donations and spend it on a zoom subscription').
This particular not-for-profit may have no business model, i.e. no revenue outside of donations.
But there are many not-for-profit entities that rely on services/fees (as opposed to donations) to fund their operations. For many of these non-profits, the main things that distinguish them from for-profit companies is that:
A) The founders don't get rich from an exit. They (and their cronies) get rich from buying their own services.
B) They can more easily get contracts from government entities that can for-profit companies. Because somehow people see outsourcing to for-profit companies as 'privatization', but outsourcing to non-profits as supporting the local economy.