Built to serve, not to maximize

Epistola isn’t owned by its founders — it’s owned by a foundation (stichting). The three cofounders run the company as its stewards, not as owners chasing growth or returns.

We started Epistola because we saw municipalities struggling with document generation tools that were either expensive, inflexible, or locked them into vendor relationships. We wanted something better: reliable, open-source software that serves the public good.

We make decisions together, we’re accountable to each other and to the foundation’s mission, and we move forward as one team.

Read more about steward ownership →

We set clear goals each year — the features we want to build, the infrastructure we need, the service levels we commit to, and the team we can afford — and we budget for them. Then we price our work to cover that budget, nothing more.

Our income comes from four streams: source code management, feature development, services, and consultancy.

We’ve built the limits into the company itself. Shareholder dividends are capped, and even our salaries are capped at the balkenendenorm (the Dutch public-sector pay norm, WNT). Our bylaws require that any surplus profit goes to companies with a similar structure — steward-owned and open source — or back to our clients. We don’t accumulate profit to maximize shareholder returns.

Epistola’s mission is anchored in a foundation (stichting). The foundation is currently being established and will be in place by the end of the year at the latest.

It guarantees that Epistola stays open source and true to its mission — that no future change of direction or ownership can override our core principles. Until it is formally registered, the cofounders operate by exactly these principles and personally vouch for them.

This governance setup complements our open-source model: it guarantees Epistola stays open source, and that profit maximization can never lead to changing the terms. For us to remain a stable company, though, this relies on our clients supporting the mission — financially, or by dedicating resources to it.