I'd just like to back Chris up on this, as Wikimedia UK's 'Finance Man', for want of a better word. We're tasked with coming up with an activity plan to be agreed on September 8 this year. We've been asking the community to come up with various ideas, for a fully volunteer-driven plan. You can see these ideas - some of them very crazy - at 
<a href="http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/2013_Activity_Plan/Ideas">http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/2013_Activity_Plan/Ideas</a>. I for one suggested a six-month &quot;Free Content Canal Barge&quot; to travel around the UK. Others have suggested new skins for Wikipedia, a photo-scanning centre, a &#39;donate your content when you die&#39; legally binding will - lots of very exciting ideas! Sufficed to say, not all of them are sensible, and not all of them are workable - but they&#39;re all very individualistic and represent the very best of crowdsourcing ideas.<div>

<br></div><div>When we came up with the &#39;basic plan&#39; in the WMUK office, we had to come up with something that seemed relatively sensible to spark off ideas for the community to work off. Part of that was myself and the Chief Exec throwing out &#39;ballpark figures&#39; for the WMUK membership and the WMUK board to discuss. One of those ballpark figures was £40k for the UK if it wins a Wikimania 2014 bid, or alternatively putting £40k towards the 2014 Wikimania wherever it may be - in the form of travel grants, a better venue, better accommodation or something similar. As Chris says, our Financial Year is February-January, so we have to plan for what would happen if the community&#39;s (and it is community led - see <a href="http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2014_bids/London">http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2014_bids/London</a>) London Bid is successful. </div>

<div><br></div><div>What I&#39;m saying, is that this budget is a <b>work in progress</b>, and it&#39;s one that we want the wider community - and the WMUK membership - to lead on. If you don&#39;t think that planning a £40k spend on a confirmed 2014 bid is a good idea, then say so, but please propose something else! Perhaps there&#39;s an opportunity for a joint UK-Danish project to cover the Faroe and Shetland Islands - or a joint WMUK-DE-RU project to cover &#39;Peace and Reconciliation&#39; - as the cities of Coventry, Dresden and Volgograd (Stalingrad) were some of the first &#39;twin cities&#39; in existence. </div>

<div><br></div><div>All the best,</div><div><br></div><div><br><div><span>Richard Symonds</span><div>Wikimedia UK</div><div>(User:Chase me ladies, I&#39;m the Cavalry)</div><div>0207 065 0992</div><div><font color="#999999" size="1">Disclaimer viewable at</font><font size="1"> <a href="http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia:Email_disclaimer" target="_blank">http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia:Email_disclaimer</a> </font><font color="#999999" size="1"><br>

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<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On 26 August 2012 22:36, Joseph Fox <span dir="ltr">&lt;<a href="mailto:josephfoxwiki@gmail.com" target="_blank">josephfoxwiki@gmail.com</a>&gt;</span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">

Yeah, I didn&#39;t think it&#39;d be £40,000 budgeted purely for the bid (which let&#39;s face it is really a tourst&#39;s guide to whatever city, and a list of stuff you think you might get).<div><br></div><div>If you do decide to spend £40,000 on the bid, I&#39;m available for the position ;)</div>


<div><br></div><div>Joe</div><div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div><div class="h5">On 26 August 2012 22:02, Chris Keating <span dir="ltr">&lt;<a href="mailto:chriskeatingwiki@gmail.com" target="_blank">chriskeatingwiki@gmail.com</a>&gt;</span> wrote:<br>


</div></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div><div class="h5"><div class="gmail_quote">Just to clarify Wikimedia UK&#39;s position regarding Wikimania 2014.<div>

<br></div><div>So far the Wikimedia UK board has made no decisions and received no proposals regarding Wikimania 2014 - spending money on it or otherwise.</div>


<div><br></div><div>What we do have is a section in the current draft of the 2013 activity plan suggesting allocating £40,000 for Wikimania 2014. This draft is currently up for community consultation before we discuss it at our September board meeting. As a result of the discussion there we will develop a proposal to vote on, and whatever is accepted, we will then send to the FDC; how the FDC will respond, no-one knows. Then when we know the FDC&#39;s opinion, we will have another version, and then when the fundraiser out-turn is known in January there will be a further iteration before our actual 2013 budget is finalised. So there is plenty of work left to do on this. What&#39;s more, since our financial year runs from February and bid selection is in April it&#39;s inevitable that most of any budget allocation we make for Wikimania would be for *after* a successful bid, rather than before it. </div>




<div><br></div><div>While I can understand why this it a topic of interest, I&#39;m not sure there is any need to get worked up about it. We make a conscious effort to do our planning as openly as possible, and share early drafts of documents with the community for input. We are also unable to reject proposals that have not yet been made. Please think carefully about whether shouting at us as a result is a good idea ;-)</div>




<div><br></div><div>Personally I hope that we end up with a very strong, volunteer-led, London bid which will be successful and that Wikimedia UK will be able to support Wikimania 2014 in every way possible - but there is still a very long way to go yet.</div>




<div><br></div><div>Many thanks,</div><div><br></div><div>Chris Keating</div><div>(User:The Land)</div><div>Chair, Wikimedia UK</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div>
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