My thoughts are that it would generate an awful lot more questions from the membership about the day to day running of the organisation. If the member is asking out of interest, and has financial skills themselves, it could be useful. Then again, they might want to argue the price you're spending on staples.
There has to be an element of trust involved with the chapter. It's good for members to have input, but if it generates a too large workload, or gives misleading figures, it might be best to reconsider.
My advice might be to keep the members informed at a general level: for example, with rough figures (to the nearest thousand for WMUK) but don't get bogged down in detail.
Richard Symonds, Wikimedia UK
This post is mainly targeted at the Treasurers of membership organisations among us, but others are of course welcome to chip in.
At WMAU, we've recently had a request from one of our members for a monthly report of the chapter's financial situation to be made available to members. This is somewhat unusual, as I don't recall ever being in an organisation that has done this on a monthly basis for its members, as opposed to an end-year summary at the AGM, which we do already do. What I think is specifically being requested is a balance sheet and P&L statement as at the close of every month. I'm a bit hesitant to do this to be honest, while I often answer specific questions from members, unaudited MA figures can sometimes be misleading and move about a bit as various adjustments are made for the auditor. Naturally, within five minutes of being released to our members, the documents could be anywhere, so it's as good as making them public. Does any other chapter provide this sort of high level information on a regular basis, other than at the annual general meeting (or equivalent)?
We'll also be seeking advice from the relevant department of government on this question, but I wonder if anyone else has some experience or perspectives to share?
Thanks,
Craig Franklin
Wikimedia Australia
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