Gradian Health Systems, which pioneered the CE-marked Universal Anaesthesia Machine to bring general anaesthesia in underserved communities around the world on patients of any age, is a Limited Liability Corporation (LLC) solely owned by a New York City-based private foundation, the Nick Simons Foundation.
Gradian is a lot more than simple grantee of the Foundation. In fact, it was described as “both a program-related investment of the foundation and a commercial subsidiary of it. We have taken to calling this structure Foundation-owned Social Enterprise (or FOSE).”
It’s a new business model that is considered by the IRS to be a “disregarded entity,” meaning that its finances are to be reflected on the tax filings of the owner, which in this case is the Foundation. This eases the burden off of having to file IRS annually.
via A New Model: Foundation-owned Social Enterprise | Nonprofit Quarterly