Basics:
- WMF is a US charity. Funds collected by, or through its website (even
if legally collected by affiliated organizations) will be exposed to
US-style scrutiny and need to be able to withstand that for the reputation
of the movement as a whole.
- Wikimedia is a worldwide charity. People who donate locally want to
know their funds are supporting Wikimedia and not vanishing into pockets or
being wasted. Chapters not yet able to provide and demonstrate that
assurance are a risk if they take funds that become unable to be accounted
for or where the accounting is not transparent and independently verified.
- It's easier to set good practices in place early on. It should have
been a prequel to the agreement last year on direct payment/allocation, to
ensure 6 figure cash from donors worldwide was only passed to chapters that
were verified and agrred as being capable of responsibly handling it,
criteria in place for that. Not a "catch up" afterwards. But good call to
fix it now, at least.
WMF bears actual or perceived responsibility to ensure correct use of
collections via *.wikimedia.org wiki fundraisers and WMF efforts. Those
monies (as opposed to funds collected by local chapters' own efforts) are
donated to support the wider project goals. Because of this, WMF cannot
simply shrug it of or say "they are allocated to outside body X so we have
no interest or role in checking their appropriate ultimate use."
It doesn't matter the legal relationship, WMF has a perceived responsibility
to live up to, that even if the funds are used at chapter discretion, it
should be clear they are being reasonably and completely used for the
mission.
Alternative ways to approach decentralization might have included a ramp-up
over a 2-3 year period, or funds transfer on a requisition basis, allowing
each local organization to be gradually established and mature (which takes
time). But better late than never. It would have been much harder and more
painful to correct a chapter that was "difficult" in those areas, once
established a few years down the line.
At least criteria are to be put in place now than never. For chapters in
good order they should not be an issue.
FT2
On Sat, Aug 13, 2011 at 3:35 PM, Gerard Meijssen
<gerard.meijssen(a)gmail.com>wrote;wrote:
Hoi,
There is fundraising together and there is fundraising perse. What is at
issue is that chapters are and have always been expected to disclose their
activities, providing financial statements. They are expected to be
accountable and many chapters have largely not been accountable.
The consequence is very much that the decentralisation is not working
because chapters are not committed to fulfil their obligations as is clear
from their actions. What is at stake is the involvement and the benefits of
chapters to the annual fundraiser. When chapters fund themselves in other
ways (as well), then my understanding is that they are welcome to that
particularly where they raise funds for particular named activities.
Wikimedia and any of the projects is a global affair and we need a global
movement that includes the WMF, the chapters, the communities, the
associated projects. We will and do benefit from being open transparent and
accountable. The people who fund us have to appreciate us as a global
movement and not as an organisation with tons of money hoarded by secretive
people, in the nooks and crannies of our movement.
Thanks,
GerardM
On 9 August 2011 09:18, David Gerard <dgerard(a)gmail.com> wrote:
On 9 August 2011 05:13, Kirill Lokshin
<kirill.lokshin(a)gmail.com> wrote:
This is all very true, and very insightful; but
what does it have to do
with
chapters?
That the message from WMF is about a decentralisation not working from
their perspective, so recentralising fundraising.
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