Dear Executive Committee,
Wikimedia India Chapter.


Could you be please be kind enough to clarify, Why EC was/is interested in misguiding mailing list and Indian community?


When asked about CIS funding - Executive Committee member wrote :

The Chapter has alwaya made things public and will xontinue to do so. If the CIS funds us, it will be madw public.

Then why weren't they made public by you? CIS clearly stated - they are funding Chapter, and in past (also) they have supported in-kind.

Why is the hesitation for acknowledging this? On the contrary - there is strong rejection of even having any kind of connection with CIS from Chapter representatives. (On the other hand CIS is graciously open/alright to acknowledge links with the Chapter)


On A Query about CIS funding Chapter Flight Tickets : Response from Secretary was-

.....making unsubstantiated claims on a public mailing list,

Which part was unsubstantiated?  Its the reality that this time Chapter Board Member's Flight tickets ARE covered by CIS even if it includes training the A2K team.
(CIS has already made it clear on this mailing list)


Why there is hesitation/resistance to have transparency?

Also, the Chapter President gave statement on same thread -

Please be open and transparent to the
community. The more you become transparent, it is better for all.

Are Chapter EC Members  exception to this?

On same lines, Another EC Members says -

 The Chapter is financially accountable to it's MEMBERS,

As correctly stated by , Chapter is having money from WMF, Which comes from individual donations. So ideally 
Chapter should be accountable to the overall community and not just its members, as rightly pointed out by someone

Again, What is the need to find excuses for transparency?

When there was statement that ''AGM travel expense is covered'' instead of correcting statement and saying, its wrong - and CIS is paying for Board Trip (which is coinciding with CIS training!)
Even Chapter President preferred to give out half truth and kept everyone in dark. And there was Secretary and another EC Member to take whole mailing list on a ride!


Why it is important?

This could be start of new era - Where CIS supports Chapter financially whenever needed.
(or in-kind as they did in past and hopefully will continue to do so).

So more and more volunteer efforts can be devoted for outreach/activities.

Please remember that chapter is representation of the community and
works for the community

Current scenario gives wrong interpretation and implies that community should not raise questions on transparency because after-all we are your  representation! Either consult community before lying or speak (complete) truth.

Here is response from Sunil,CIS -

This month, we are reimbursing the Chapter EC travel and related
expenses because the Chapter EC has kindly consented to support a
training programme that CIS is organising for it's A2K team in
Bangalore. It is only happy coincidence that they were also organising
a meeting in Bangalore during those dates. I was not aware of this
when I reached out to the EC and asked for their support us.


From Sunil's mail it is clear that Sunil extended the offer in good-faith, unaware of Chapter-Board meeting falling at the same time. However Chapter also seems to have taken this opportunity and is now shy to accept. I don't understand why? 

And why CIS was also kept in dark?


CIS will cover air travel and accommodation for all EC members. CIS will
also provide per diem for meals that are not provided during the
 training. Unfortunately, we don't have a separate budget for fees.

Along with 'air Travel', CIS is providing accommodation too.
And Last sentence about fee budget is interesting.


If Chapter is expecting public support for fundraising and other activities, then it should be more transparent and 'should avoid organized and dedicated efforts to misguide community/keep in dark.'


And Hope so CIS takes care of all the 
 remaining Chapter financial needs as well, Just keep community in loop. And Thanks to Sunil/ CIS for being transparent and open. 




Keep Clarifying, Keep Inspiring!



-Abhishek Suryawanshi,
On Behalf of Wikipedia Club Pune



---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Sunil Abraham <sunil@mahiti.org>
Date: Thu, Feb 14, 2013 at 12:29 PM
Subject: Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] why to donate
To: Abhishek Suryawanshi <i.abhishek.suryawanshi@gmail.com>
Cc: Wikimedia India Community list <wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org>


Dear Abhishek,

CIS is not supporting travel expenses for Chapter EC meetings. Nor has
CIS provided funding to the Chapter so far from the Wikipedia grant.
CIS has provided in-kind support to the Chapter in previous financial
years for ex. society registration costs and the costs of their
financial adviser during their first financial year. We strongly
suppor

This month, we are reimbursing the Chapter EC travel and related
expenses because the Chapter EC has kindly consented to support a
training programme that CIS is organising for it's A2K team in
Bangalore. It is only happy coincidence that they were also organising
a meeting in Bangalore during those dates. I was not aware of this
when I reached out to the EC and asked for their support us.

Dear Friends,

In the first week of March, we hope to release a 6-monthly report of
the utilization of the grant so far. Usually we only provide an annual
consolidated report for all grants at the ledger group level. But for
this particular grant we will increase the degree of transparency to
address concerns of the community. If you have any suggestions on how
we should structure this report or if you have any further questions
about how CIS is spending the grant allocated do not hesitate to ask
me.

Best wishes,

Sunil



-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Training of CIS-A2K team on 23 or 24 of February
Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2013 10:48:42 +0530
From: Sunil Abraham <sunil@cis-india.org>
To: Wikimedia India EC <wikimedia-in-exec@lists.wikimedia.org>

Attn:
 Sudhanwa Jogalekar
 Karthik Nadar
 Anirudh Singh Bhati
 Nikita Belavate
 Pranav Curumsey
 Srikanth Ramakrishnan
 Viswa Prabha

Dear Members of the Wikimedia India EC,

Hope 2013 has gotten of to an excellent start for all of you.

CIS is organising a training for the A2K team on the 22nd, 23rd and 24th
of February in Bangalore. The new Programme Director - Vishnu Vardhan
will also be attending this event. We would like the EC to spend one day
training the team on a variety of issues. We would prefer if you opt for
either 23rd or the 24th as we have some other trainers that have
confirmed for the 22nd.

CIS will cover air travel and accommodation for all EC members. CIS will
also provide per diem for meals that are not provided during the
training. Unfortunately, we don't have a separate budget for fees.

This idea has been discussed with Anasuya Sengupta and Jessie Wild at
the Wikimedia Foundation and they have supported it.

Best wishes,

Sunil


On Wed, Feb 13, 2013 at 1:08 AM, Abhishek Suryawanshi
<i.abhishek.suryawanshi@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Dear Sunil,
>
> Could you please share information about CIS supporting Chapter Travel
> expenses?
>
> And Its nice and positive move, Great to see CIS continues to support
> movement in India.
> Volunteers can devote their time in doing activities and CIS can support as
> per request.
>
> As Chapter is shy/silent about acknowledging funding from CIS - Hope so your
> reply will clarify that CIS is there to support Chapter activities
> irrespective of criticism.
>
>
> Keep Supporting, Keep Inspiring! :)
>
>
>
> Regards,
>
> Abhishek Suryawanshi,
> On Behalf of Wikipedia Club Pune