Hi affiliate officers and board members,
AirBNB offered me a $50 coupon to let them know my work email address.
Since I travel with AirBNB for Wikimedia-related business, I used my
Cascadia Wikimedians address. It's too late for me to get $50 coupon for my
upcoming trip, but you might try taking advantage of this if you travel
with AirBNB for Wikimedia business. Because this $50 coupon is due to my
relationship with Cascadia Wikimedians, I plan to donate the coupon or the
savings from it to Cascadia. You might encourage or require affiliate
members who use their email address this way to do the same. Effectively,
this will get your organization either a $50 coupon or $50 in cash for each
person who does this.
My personal opinion is that any financial benefit, such as a travel coupon
or refund like this one, that someone gets because of their relationship
with a Wikimedia affiliate, should be handled carefully because of the
potential for someone to take personal advantage of the benefit without
telling the affiliate. I would consider that to be an improper personal
gain. You might check to see if your affiliate has policies that address
situations like this, and make sure that anyone who might receive gifts or
other benefits related to their Wikimedia work is aware of those policies.
Please note that
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Conflict_of_interest_guide_for_Wikimedia_mo…
says: "Implement a gift policy to avoid the appearance of bias. Consider
prohibiting staff and board members from accepting gifts, money, or
gratuities from: (1) anyone receiving benefits or services from the
organization; (2) any person or business performing or looking to perform a
service under contract with the organization; (3) any person who is
otherwise in a position of receiving a benefit from the actions of an
employee." While the COI policy appears to focus on the potential for
improper influence on business decisions due to gifts, in this case the
potential problem is someone receiving a personal financial benefit without
informing the affiliate. In this case, I am treating the coupon as if it is
the property of the affiliate rather than my personal coupon.
So, I would encourage other affiliates to take advantage of this coupon,
but make sure that the coupon is used for the benefit of the affiliate (or
whichever organization is paying for travel) rather than for the personal
gain of the person who receives the coupon.
If any of the WMF Legal team want to comment on how to handle situations
like this where a benefit (which should be encouraged for the good of the
affiliate) might be converted to personal use, I would welcome hearing from
them. Perhaps this is a situation that could be addressed more specifically
in the COI policy than it currently is.
Regards,
Pine
In case Wikimedia affiliate board members or officers are interested, here
is a high-level overview of accounting. Although the software demonstrated
here is Xero, the same terminology applies to other accounting software. To
access the video, click "Pre-recorded video" on the lower left side of this
page:
https://www.xero.com/training/1844-small-businesses/1870-business-owners/26…
Pine
For those affiliates who use Xero, the company is starting to offer
webinars. I'm planning to join the upcoming webinars on "Fundraising for
Nonprofits" and "Accounting 101: What you need to know as a startup".
Many of us who have regular responsibilities for handling movement funds
might be familiar with at least some of the Accounting 101 content already,
but you might consider inviting people like affiliate board members to
attend if they're less familiar with accounting and would like to learn
more about the subject.
Regards,
Pine
Hi all,
If we have a tutorial at WikiConference USA, it will likely be recorded on
video so that others can watch later. There is also the possibility that we
might be able to live-stream the workshop.
One of the reasons that we chose Xero is that it allows all of our board
members to have read-only access via an Internet connection, meaning that
any board member can look into the books at a time and place convenient to
them. I feel that this is helpful in facilitating good governance.
Pine
On Sat, Jan 2, 2016 at 12:10 PM, Douglas Scott <douglas.i.scott(a)gmail.com>
wrote:
> I would also be very interested in learning more about accounting. I would
> suspect that Berlin would be the best place to give a tutorial but as Pine
> has pointed out not everyone will be there. I therefore think that such a
> tutorial should be given at multiple places throughout the year so the
> maximum number of people who need it or who want to do a refresher can sit
> in and learn this basic but very important skill.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Douglas.
>
>
> On Thursday, December 31, 2015, Pine W <wiki.pine(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I was thinking of that, but unless something so wonderful happens that I
>> can drop other commitments, I'll be staying home this year when so many
>> others are having fun in Berlin.
>>
>> Pine
>>
>> On Wed, Dec 30, 2015 at 8:52 PM, Gnangarra <gnangarra(a)wikimedia.org.au>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> may also be of interest in Berlin given may affiliates outside the US
>>> also use it
>>>
>>> On 31 December 2015 at 12:40, Pine W <wiki.pine(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hi folks,
>>>>
>>>> I'm now reasonably comfortable with Xero for the purposes of affiliate
>>>> internal accounting. I'm wondering, would anyone be interested in a
>>>> tutorial about accounting basics in Xero at WikiConference USA 2016? If
>>>> there's enough interest, I'm happy to lead a tutorial. We plan to have a
>>>> lot of video recording equipment at the conference, so it's possible that
>>>> we can facilitate live remote participation and/or recording for later
>>>> viewing. I'm trying to get a feeling for whether this would be of interest
>>>> to other Wikimedia affiliates, including those who would like to understand
>>>> finance reports prepared by others. I'm not a CPA, but I know enough to
>>>> feel comfortable with
>>>> accounting for movement funds in Xero. (: Let me know if this would be
>>>> of interest to you.
>>>>
>>>> Legal disclaimer: the focus will be how to use the software, not what
>>>> the laws are in your particular jurisdiction.
>>>>
>>>> Possible topics:
>>>>
>>>> Reports
>>>> Chart of accounts
>>>> Bank feeds
>>>> Reconciliation
>>>> Expense claims
>>>> Bills
>>>> Accounts receivable
>>>> Petty cash
>>>> Sales tax
>>>> Use tax
>>>>
>>>> Let me know (:
>>>>
>>>> Regards,
>>>>
>>>> Pine
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Affiliates mailing list
>>>> Affiliates(a)lists.wikimedia.org
>>>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/affiliates
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Gideon Digby
>>> President - Wikimedia Australia
>>> P: + 61 3 9005 8535
>>> M: 0434 986 852
>>> gnangarra(a)wikimedia.org.au
>>> http://wikimedia.org.au
>>>
>>> Wikimedia Australia Inc. is an independent charitable organisation which
>>> supports the efforts of the Wikimedia Foundation in Australia. Your
>>> donations keep the Wikimedia mission alive.
>>> *http://wikimedia.org.au/Donate <https://wikimedia.org.au/Donate>*
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Affiliates mailing list
>>> Affiliates(a)lists.wikimedia.org
>>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/affiliates
>>>
>>>
>>
>
> --
> Douglas Ian Scott
> 司道格
> Skype: douglas0scott
> South African mobile number: +27 (0)79 515 8727
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Affiliates mailing list
> Affiliates(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/affiliates
>
>
I was thinking of that, but unless something so wonderful happens that I
can drop other commitments, I'll be staying home this year when so many
others are having fun in Berlin.
Pine
On Wed, Dec 30, 2015 at 8:52 PM, Gnangarra <gnangarra(a)wikimedia.org.au>
wrote:
> may also be of interest in Berlin given may affiliates outside the US also
> use it
>
> On 31 December 2015 at 12:40, Pine W <wiki.pine(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi folks,
>>
>> I'm now reasonably comfortable with Xero for the purposes of affiliate
>> internal accounting. I'm wondering, would anyone be interested in a
>> tutorial about accounting basics in Xero at WikiConference USA 2016? If
>> there's enough interest, I'm happy to lead a tutorial. We plan to have a
>> lot of video recording equipment at the conference, so it's possible that
>> we can facilitate live remote participation and/or recording for later
>> viewing. I'm trying to get a feeling for whether this would be of interest
>> to other Wikimedia affiliates, including those who would like to understand
>> finance reports prepared by others. I'm not a CPA, but I know enough to
>> feel comfortable with
>> accounting for movement funds in Xero. (: Let me know if this would be of
>> interest to you.
>>
>> Legal disclaimer: the focus will be how to use the software, not what the
>> laws are in your particular jurisdiction.
>>
>> Possible topics:
>>
>> Reports
>> Chart of accounts
>> Bank feeds
>> Reconciliation
>> Expense claims
>> Bills
>> Accounts receivable
>> Petty cash
>> Sales tax
>> Use tax
>>
>> Let me know (:
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Pine
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Affiliates mailing list
>> Affiliates(a)lists.wikimedia.org
>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/affiliates
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Gideon Digby
> President - Wikimedia Australia
> P: + 61 3 9005 8535
> M: 0434 986 852
> gnangarra(a)wikimedia.org.au
> http://wikimedia.org.au
>
> Wikimedia Australia Inc. is an independent charitable organisation which
> supports the efforts of the Wikimedia Foundation in Australia. Your
> donations keep the Wikimedia mission alive.
> *http://wikimedia.org.au/Donate <https://wikimedia.org.au/Donate>*
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Affiliates mailing list
> Affiliates(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/affiliates
>
>
Hi folks,
I'm now reasonably comfortable with Xero for the purposes of affiliate
internal accounting. I'm wondering, would anyone be interested in a
tutorial about accounting basics in Xero at WikiConference USA 2016? If
there's enough interest, I'm happy to lead a tutorial. We plan to have a
lot of video recording equipment at the conference, so it's possible that
we can facilitate live remote participation and/or recording for later
viewing. I'm trying to get a feeling for whether this would be of interest
to other Wikimedia affiliates, including those who would like to understand
finance reports prepared by others. I'm not a CPA, but I know enough to
feel comfortable with
accounting for movement funds in Xero. (: Let me know if this would be of
interest to you.
Legal disclaimer: the focus will be how to use the software, not what the
laws are in your particular jurisdiction.
Possible topics:
Reports
Chart of accounts
Bank feeds
Reconciliation
Expense claims
Bills
Accounts receivable
Petty cash
Sales tax
Use tax
Let me know (:
Regards,
Pine
Hi all,
Awhile back we discussed accounting software on this list. Cascadia
Wikimedians decided to use Xero. I just want to post a note for the benefit
of other affiliates that for the most part I like Xero and particularly
appreciate that their end-user support seems good so far. The main
downsides are that their visual design seems to be optimized for mobile and
is less user-friendly for desktop, and it's especially mediocre for
high-resolution displays. Also, Xero handles sales tax incorrectly for the
way that state and local sales taxes work in the US; I believe that Xero is
handling sales tax in a way that is intended to be compatible with VAT,
which is quite different from how sales tax works in the US. If you're
considering using Xero, I hope that this info will be helpful to you.
Regards,
Pine
Hi all,
Cascadia Wikimedians will soon have some camera equipment available for
loan to members. I'm wondering if other affiliates have English-language
forms already created that are designed for members to sign when they loan
equipment from affiliates. If you have forms like that already created and
licensed CC-BY-SA or something similar, please let me know so that I can
take a look.
Thanks,
Pine