On Tue, Nov 25, 2014 at 2:38 PM, Liam Wyatt liamwyatt@gmail.com wrote:
Excellently put Lodewijk.
In an attempt to answer your question: I would like to ask for clarification the expectations of raising funds externally.
In previous years, as has been mentioned earlier in this thread, it has been emphasised that the 'money raised in a country' should be considered independent of 'money spent in that country'. This is a principle that everyone (I think) agrees with, on the basis that a country might be donor-poor but activity-rich or vice versa. Taken at its purest, this principle implies that the annual plans submitted should be independent of the amount of money [potentially] available to be accessed locally.
Separately, there is also the fact that several of the responses from the FDC emphasise that some Chapters should push for more external funding sources - to diversify their income streams and to lessen the burden on the global Wikimedia budget. And that these Chapters' Annual Plan budgets should take more into account those funds.
Both of these policies are internally consistent and logical, however I believe that they are at least partially contradictory. I believe the FDC is working on the best advice it has available, and I know that I have not read *all *the most recent documentation about Chapter finances. But, I would like to know if there is a policy position from the WMF Board of Trustees that clarifies what is expected of Chapters in this area.
Can you elaborate just a little on how you find them to be contradictory? If we assume, as I think is reasonable, that the first principle applies to funds raised by WMF and the second is directed at funds raised by individual affiliates, they don't seem to me to be in conflict.