History

IVAO was first created on December the 16th 1998. Major milestones were achieved with the release of it's own software like IvAc and IvAp. Since then, the network and surrounding community have experienced exponential growth.

By 2006, it became clear that IVAO needed some sort of formal body to help manage the infrastructure, funding, and promotion of the community-driven project in order for it to continue to flourish. And so, the IVAO NPO (non-profit-organisation) was legally born in April 2007.

The IVAO NPO was created for several reasons. The main reason was the possibility to give IVAO a legal body thus ensuring that the IVAO community could continue to use the services of IVAO for a long time to come, even if the existing management would leave the organisation for whatever reason. The NPO provides the possibility to easily change the people who manage the organisation without the need for any disputes about ownership.

A second point for the creation of the association was the possibility to accept donations, and a financial framework. In this case the community has the possibility to support the organisation by donating money to a legal company.