NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Author-vloggers Hank and John Green often end their popular 鈥淐rash Course鈥� videos with a donation appeal to keep the YouTube show 鈥渇ree for everyone forever.鈥� The multihyphenate brothers now hope they’ve figured out a way to do just that 鈥� by changing their production studio’s tax status.
Their educational media company Complexly, which has garnered billions of views through web series that explain just about every classroom subject from animal biology to Latin American literature, will now operate as a nonprofit.
The change is intended to ensure viewers have access to engaging, fact-based content that can compete free of advertisers’ interests in the attention economy. It comes as artificial intelligence gives rise to absurdist 鈥� 鈥� and distorted while amid sudden cuts in federal funding.
鈥淧art of what Complexly鈥檚 trying to do is create good information on the internet,鈥� Hank told the Associated Press. 鈥淟et鈥檚 actually just say that this is our goal. Like, our goal isn鈥檛 to build a big company and sell it someday.鈥�
鈥淭here鈥檚 never been more information and yet there鈥檚 never been less information that you feel you can trust,” John added. “Our goal at Complexly has always been to make trustworthy content. And making Complexly a public good, for me, is the next step in that process.鈥�
Strong audience and philanthropic support
Nonprofit status has been a consideration for several years, according to Complexly CEO Julie Walsh Smith.
The studio already receives sizable philanthropic funding 鈥� including $4.8 million last year. The nonprofit’s initial supporters are led by existing partners such as YouTube, PBS, and the . Other funders such as Arizona State University and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute underwrite a number of 鈥淐rash Course鈥� projects.
While about one-tenth of their revenue comes from a YouTube program that gives creators a share of advertising earnings, strong audience support made them confident in their ability to reach individual donors.
Complexly estimates that another tenth of their revenue comes from Patreon, a platform where fans can contribute to their favorite online creators often in exchange for bonus content. Monthly Patreon subscribers tend to give $5 or $10 to help them make shows such as 鈥淐rash Course.鈥�
They also sell minted silver 鈥淐rash Course鈥� coins every year that can cost thousands of dollars. Hank said they have relationships with the individuals who buy the most expensive versions of the coin 鈥� and that most of those high-dollar supporters have said they want to increase their support but maybe 鈥渇elt a little weird鈥� giving money to a for-profit entity.
The small donors provide general funds that Hank said give them flexibility to 鈥渋nvest in the ideas that we think are most likely to deliver impact through reach.鈥�
It is “hard to do the thing that we have to do where we compete with MrBeast and cat videos and all of the very attention-grabbing dashcam fights that YouTube has to offer,” he said. 鈥淏ut we really take that responsibility very seriously. We are not just here to make educational video. We are here to make educational video that people choose to watch. And so that’s the fight that we are fighting.”
New roles and new shows
The nonprofit transition requires Hank and John, best known for his young adult novels 鈥淭he Fault in Our Stars鈥� and 鈥淟ooking for Alaska,鈥� give up any equity they held in Complexly. While the Montana-headquartered nonprofit expects to maintain its staff of roughly 80 employees, Smith says its growth means they no longer require the founders鈥� 鈥渄ay-to-day leadership.鈥�
John will move forward as 鈥渇ounder emeritus鈥� 鈥� he doesn鈥檛 know exactly what that means but says he is 鈥渓ooking forward to finding out鈥� 鈥� while Hank will join the nonprofit鈥檚 board of directors and continue hosting some shows.
鈥淭he way I like to think about it is they鈥檙e going from leaders of the organization to cheerleaders,鈥� said Smith.
John promised that the viewing experience won’t change much. If anything, he said, there are potential new shows 鈥渢hat have long been great ideas that weren’t possible because they didn’t make sense from a business perspective.”
Complexly is committing $8.5 million to new content that neither its founders nor CEO would discuss yet. But Smith did say they are seeking additional funding for an upcoming series that will go behind the scenes at zoos and museums to spotlight the specimens they don’t display.
As far as new mediums such as TikTok go, Smith said they’re focused on YouTube while staying committed to being in the spaces 鈥渨here audiences are spending their time.鈥�
Living in an ‘advertising-fund
ed internet’
The duo has long tried to crack the economics of the internet.
They founded the crowdfunding platform Subbable in 2013 to help creators raise money for specific projects. There was even a point where Hank tried to form a union for creators, whose livelihoods are subject to the unpredictability of social media platforms’ algorithmic priorities and advertising share models.
This shift wasn’t motivated by any doubts about their business’ health, they insisted, but rather other concerns.
鈥淲e’ve always worried about being overly reliant on advertising,鈥� John said. 鈥淚 think that an advertising-funded internet is a complicated place to live, as I’ve observed from the last 25 years of my life.鈥�
By leaning into philanthropic funding, John says the desire is for Complexly to exist 鈥渇or the good of the people who benefit from it鈥� and not 鈥渇or anyone else’s benefit.”
鈥淭hat鈥檚 not the same path a lot of digital media companies take,鈥� Smith said. 鈥淥ften, they鈥檒l put premium content behind paywalls or behind a subscription service. And we鈥檙e just never gonna do that.鈥�
No strangers to the nonprofit world
It’s hardly their first foray into philanthropy.
The brothers say they have granted more than $17 million to dozens of charities through their Foundation to Decrease World Suck. They fund those donations with the profits from everyday purchases made on the Good Store, their online retailer.
That familiarity has made them aware of the fact that many nonprofits struggle with the nimbleness required of a digital production studio. But they emphasized that there are many ways to run a nonprofit. John noted that Partners in Health 鈥� one of the Good Store’s charitable partners 鈥� track tuberculosis in Lesotho with an app that is 鈥渙n par with anything being done in the private sector.鈥�
鈥淚t’s perfectly possible for nonprofits to be innovative and fast movers,” John said. “It’s just that you need to set that up from the beginning.”
鈥淐an we signal to other people that there is no reason why you can’t do this and also model, as we go forward, that if that’s a choice that other people want to make then there’s good ways to do it?” Hank added.
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