I open this discussion as this issue arise for WMFr and its
professionalization, and I believe same for others chapters.
I would like to know if the foundation or others chapters who have
recruited or will do it have define a wage policy and have decide a public
transparency for this wages.
Wikimedia France had an employee during less than one year before we
separated through a negociation.It's salary was not published but easy to
find in our accounts as he was our only employee. We then recruited within
a short period, 3 employees with a permanent contract and one with
fixed-term contract in charge of the fundraising. So it raised the question
of wage policy, equity between employees, and transparency of wages. Even
more because some of this employees are former WMFr volunteers.
In France, the practice is that the wages in charities or NGOs are generally 15
to 20% below market value. Difficult to check for small
organizationsbecause in France,
it's culturally not easy to speak/disclose personal wage even if things are
changing. Difficult also because some jobs in charities are very specific
and sometimes do not have their equivalent in the job-market.
If a charities or NGOs received more than 50 000 € of public money (from
public administration, cities, etc.), the organization has to disclose it's
more 3 highest wages, post and name of the post-holder. But most of the
time, this disclosure is not easy to find for an ordinary donator as you
should do where to find it, most of the time in an annex, lost in the
middle of accountings documents.
We have discussions on this point on WMFr board, and personaly I'm a for
the higher wages transparancy we can, for our members and donators, despite
cultural curbs.
Thierry
--
Thierry Coudray
Administrateur - Trésorier
Wikimédia France <http://www.wikimedia.fr/>
Mob. 06.82.85.84.40
http://blog.wikimedia.fr/
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