“French Non-Profit Law: Associations are as cool as American churches” by Lucie Philippon

In the latest Bayesian Conspiracy episode (How and Why to Form a Church, with Andrew Wilson), Andrew describes all the great perks churches get compared to normal 501c3. Coming from France myself, it made me realize just how many of those awesome perks are just the default non-profit perks here. More people should build cool non-profits in France! Or not, you do you.

So, here's a short intro to French non-profit law.

The French "Association"

The default French non-profit model is the "Association loi de 1901", defined... in a law from 1901. There are a few other ones, including the "Fondation", but I don't know anything about them.

Requirement: A minimum of two people. The goal must be something else than sharing benefits, although an Association can perform commercial activities.

Creation: Just filling out an online form for free (all administrative procedures throughout the life of the association are [...]

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Outline:

(00:41) The French Association

(04:06) How does it compare to a 501c3 church?

(04:41) Conclusion

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First published:

August 20th, 2025

Source:

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/QALLMLemaE4wAczZw/french-non-profit-law-associations-are-as-cool-as-american

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.