On Sat, 2 Jan 2021 at 07:46, rupert THURNER <rupert.thurner(a)gmail.com>
wrote:
have a good start into the new year everybody! should
not, ideally, the
legal team of amanda keton be able to tell if fundting something is legal?
or is this a liability issue, so tides would be liable for misconduct, and
not a person within wikimedia foundation?
Given Tides' core competencies as an organisation, one would expect that
the legal folks there have more experience in handling matters relating to
things like what activities a 501(c)(3) can fund, more knowledge of the
statutes, case law, precedent, etc. I'm sure the Legal team at the WMF
could do this too, but they might have less experience with it than in
other areas of the law, meaning they'd have to start from scratch with lots
of time-consuming research, whereas contracting with an organisation that
specialises in exactly this might be better.
So, I don't think it's quite as simple as whether they can do it or not,
but more about what would be more efficient and comprehensive.
Dan