Even if you are being generous with your time and effort, you can't carry out an effort with any kind of reach without some support model. Financing it through its own operations may not be the only choice, but its not a choice incompatible with generous motivation.
The thing is, making money off providing a useful service that benefits society as a whole isn't immoral, so I don't see why it's that big of a deal. Nobody is forcing anyone to participate.
EDIT: In fact, socially rewarding companies that do good things incentivizes others to adopt ethical strategies and might do more good than a vow-of-poverty educational service provider.
> The thing is, making money off providing a useful service that benefits society as a whole isn't immoral, so I don't see why it's that big of a deal. Nobody is forcing anyone to participate.
Of course it's not immoral but still, knowing whether "a useful service" or "making money off it" is a top priotity for the company is important. Most of the companies you and I interact with are of the second type, and I guess this is at the root of throwawaymaroon's worry.
