In writing the Foundation's resolution on licensing policy and enwiki's
non-free content criteria (i.e. it's "exemption doctrine policy"), there
appears to be a little problem. Both were designed around handling images,
but written in a way that could be (mis?)understood as also applying to
non-free text (i.e. quotes).
We are assuming that it was not the Foundation's intention to require that
all quotes be labeled in a "machine-readable format so that it can be easily
identified by users of the site as well as re-users", or to generically
stomp out the practice of quoting others whenever possible.
For the moment, I am just looking to confirm our assumption that the
Foundation isn't planning to persecute the simple act of quoting others. At
some point, it might be nice to also clarify the licensing policy language.
In the mean time, enwiki needs to work on resolving the ambiguities in our
non-free content policies. (Since, for example, we don't want prohibit
people from using quotes in discussions appearing on talk pages.) Obviously
there need to be some limits (i.e. don't quote entire book chapters), but
defining acceptable and unacceptable uses of third party text should allow
for a different set of considerations than currently applied to images.
If this all sounds dumb, I'm rather inclined to agree, but there is a
legitimate complaint that our restrictions on "non-free content" ought to be
able to handle (or contain appropriate exemptions for) the normal ways that
we use other people's text in writing our articles.
-Robert Rohde
PS. The enwiki discussion is at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Non-free_content#Non-free_text
In a message dated 10/24/2007 7:00:29 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
newsmarkie(a)googlemail.com writes:
I've just read the fund raising page properly and i think that some of the
amounts and descriptions are a bit....strange.
- $200 – We can make Wikipedia available in developing countries
through DVDs, books and pamphlets.
It says above, If you and 99 others give. That means it costs $20,000.
Etc.
Danny
************************************** See what's new at http://www.aol.com
I've just read the fund raising page properly and i think that some of the
amounts and descriptions are a bit....strange.
- $200 – We can make Wikipedia available in developing countries
through DVDs, books and pamphlets.
Well surely this could be done with $10 dollars, there just wouldn't be
much.... Maybe a quantity or something??
- $100 – We can pay for two Wikipedia Academy events in Africa.
ok this one i can get but maybe needs a "to help provide knowledge to the
deprived" or something like that to pull at the heart (and purse) stings
- $60 – We can send three students to our annual Wikimania conference.
err im sure this isn't what people want to donate to do.... does it really
need to be highlighted that your possibly paying for someone to travel??
maybe this needs clarification of who these "students" are and what
Wikimania will give them.
- $40 – We can deliver 100 million pageviews of free information!
and i can get this one too but maybe have the one million as this ->
100,000,000,000 would give it a wow factor.
thoughts??
mark
Ok, all projects and languages are now showing the fundraising site notice.
These'll still be showing Engliah for a lot of languages, since not all
translations are in for the initial version, but hopefully we can get
them cleaned up soon. :)
Pop by
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising_2007/Text_for_sitenotice and
friend pages to pitch in on getting the translations up. Note that the
centralized translations apply to all sites; including Commons using you
selected language preference.
Please pass this on to interested parties on all wikis...
We've also got subtitled versions of Jimmy's video up in several
languages. We can build more based on the translated transcripts you
guys are providing:
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising_2007/Video_with_Jimmy_subtitles/…
-- brion vibber (brion @ wikimedia.org)
[forwarded post from non-member]
From: Mike Godwin <mgodwin(a)wikimedia.org>
Date: October 24, 2007 4:36:20 AM EDT
To: foundation-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
Subject: The question of tax-deductible donations
My own research today seems to confirm the view that, while in some
nations a contribution to Wikimedia is tax-deductible, in others it is
not. In effect, it seems there is no general answer, and the specific
answers for each country can be maddeningly complex -- complex enough
that we could spend a whole lot of time trying to dig up the answer
for every nation where a donor might reside. I'll see if I can find a
resource that makes it easier, but I'm not hopeful about that.
So ... I'd like to de-emphasize tax-deductibility to the extent
possible, if we can do it. We so know that Americans who give can get
a break on their American taxes. We also know that some donors in
other nations can do something similar, sometimes, to some extent.
Beyond that, we don't have a general answer yet, and there may not be
one.
The point I think Brian McNeil has made is a good one -- only a third
of Americans itemize their deductions, and we have no reason to
believe the demographics of our American donors are different from
those of Americans generally. (That's the null hypothesis.) What this
suggests is, in the absence of more data about donors and
deductibility, we should stress altruism more than the tax deductions.
Yes, we can say "in some nations, including in the United States, you
may be able to obtain a tax deduction for your donation." Or
something similar. But I don't want to take the risk of overpromising
on the tax-deduction question. We'd like people to give to Wikimedia
because it's the right thing to do and not because they necessarily
get a reduction in their taxes.
I'm sorry not to have a neat, general answer to what turns out to be
complex question, but I'm still researching it.
--Mike Godwin
General Counsel
Wikimedia Foundation
I had the video stall on me so clicked for the YouTube "unofficial" mirror.
After the video YouTube runs ads for a number of clips entitled "Wikipedia
sucks". Is there somewhere else the video can be put that it isn't going to
be followed by stuff like this?
Brian.
I didn't even see the last one, although from the sounds of it I'm
lucky I didn't. My problem with the notice as it is now is a small
one, and probably easily fixed.
It has to do with the "testimonial" quotes - namely the fact that it
doesn't say that that's what they are. If I hadn't looked at the page
listing them before, having a fundraising banner with "I use Wikipedia
DAILY - I feel obliged to pay!" would not be sending me the right
message - it sounds more like someone putting words into my mouth, and
they're not the words I want put into my mouth. Just a little tag that
says, for example, '-- Anonymous donator' would solve the issue, for
me at least.
Otherwise, it looks fine, and I will definitely be looking to see
whether I can spare a little for the drive.
CM
Please forward this announcement to relevant forums, mailing lists,
and individuals.
Erik Möller
Executive Secretary, Wikimedia Foundation
- - - - -
The Wikimedia Foundation, which operates Wikipedia, is looking to
appoint a new Treasurer to its Board of Trustees, effective December
2007. The term for the current Treasurer has ended.
The Wikimedia Board of Trustees manages the Foundation and supervises
the disposition and solicitation of donations. The Board of Trustees
is the ultimate corporate authority in the Wikimedia Foundation Inc.
Board members are unpaid volunteers who are excited about supporting
the international charitable mission of the Wikimedia Foundation: to
bring free knowledge to the entire planet.
=== ROLE SUMMARY ===
Required duties include, but are not limited to the following:
* Manage, with the finance committee to be created, the board's review
of and action related to the board's financial responsibilities;
* Work with the chief executive to ensure that appropriate financial
reports are made available to the board. Regularly reviews reports to
board on key financial events, trends, concerns, and assessment of
fiscal health;
* May work directly with the bookkeeper or other staff in developing
and implementing financial procedures and systems;
* Serves as support to the financial officer of the organization and
as chairperson of the finance committee;
* Serves on the audit committee;
* Review the annual budget that is presented to the balance of the
board for approval;
* Review the annual audit and answers board members' questions about the audit;
* Provides financial and operational advice and guidance to the board
as required.
===REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS===
* Maintains knowledge of the organization and has a personal
commitment to its goals and objectives;
* Understands financial accounting for American nonprofit organizations;
* Must be comfortable in a highly collaborative, consensus-oriented environment;
* Accounting and financial background - an accounting or other
financial designation (i.e. CPA, CA, CFA, or other International
equivalent), with a thorough understanding of American GAAP.
* MBA or business degree would be helpful, although not required;
* Some experience with legal frameworks and contracts would be helpful;
* Background or familiarity with fundraising would be an asset;
* Has previously served as a treasurer on another non-profit board (at
least five years);
* Willing to commit time for board meetings, committee meetings and
special events;
* Works well in a group, is able to work with a decentralized
international team, using electronic communication tools.
=== EXPECTED TIME COMMITMENT ===
It is expected that the Treasurer will be able to attend four meetings
per year, which may possibly be held outside of the USA. In addition,
participation in the Foundation's annual conference would be
preferred. Cost of attending these meetings will be reimbursed. Other
time expectations would be reviewing quarterly reports, budgets, and
policies and helping to oversee the audit process.
=== CONTACT ===
Please contact us at <treasurer-search AT wikimedia DOT org> if you
are interested in this position.
=== ABOUT THE WIKIMEDIA FOUNDATION ===
The Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. is a US-registered 501(c)(3)
tax-deductible nonprofit charity dedicated to encouraging the growth,
development and distribution of free, multilingual content, and to
providing the full content of wiki-based projects to the public free
of charge. The Wikimedia Foundation operates some of the largest
collaboratively-edited reference projects in the world, including
Wikipedia, one of the world's 10 most visited websites, Wiktionary,
Wikibooks, Wikiquote, Wikisource, Wikinews and the Wikimedia Commons
media repository.
The Wikimedia Foundation relies primarily on donations and other
contributions in order to run its operations.
The Wikimedia Foundation was created in 2003 to manage the operation
of existing projects and is currently based in St. Petersburg,
Florida. The Foundation will relocate to San Francisco, California in
the near future. Wikimedia has local chapters in the United Kingdom,
Germany, France, Italy, Serbia, Netherlands, Switzerland, and Poland.
http://wikimediafoundation.org