Hi Nathan,

Thanks for bringing up comparability. The paper points out that the historic development of the international office in the sampled cases is different from how the WMF was formed. This does not, in my view, preclude us from comparing systems.

I agree with Andreas that the central value of our movement is provided by volunteers, and they organize in affiliates. The WMF has many central functions, which is probably what you are referring to, including maintaining the platforms, fundraising, grantmaking, community development, advocacy, to name but a few. The sampled INGOs secretariats have a great variety of functions as well, but typically not including fundraising and grantmaking.

With 2030 Movement Strategy's drive toward decentralizing functions (incl. fundraising), those of us working on and contributing to the charter and policies should take good care at reviewing functions to see which ones are still appropriate and effective to be done by a central org, and which ones make more sense to do locally. Studying other global movements, in my view, makes a lot of sense here, especially if they have grown differently and gone through cycles of renewal and reform.

This is our moment of redesigning and re-forming.. So let's be open, and not restrict our view by insisting on our exceptionality.

best,

Nikki

Nikki Zeuner
Senior Advisor Global Partnerships

Wikimedia Deutschland e. V. | Tempelhofer Ufer 23-24 | 10963 Berlin
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Am Mi., 7. Sept. 2022 um 16:06 Uhr schrieb Nathan <nawrich@gmail.com>:

Hi Nicole,

Thanks for sharing this - very interesting reading so far. I'm hoping you can elaborate on WMDE's thinking around selecting INGOs for evaluation. Your criteria is very straightforward - INGOs with a confederation of independent organizations, connected by a global mission.

But each of your selected INGOs is composed of individual organizations that deliver the products and services that advance the global mission within their geographic area, with an "international office" that fulfills a coordination and governance role. By contrast, the bulk of mission-related services from the Wikimedia movement are offered to the world at large centrally by the international office (i.e. the Wikimedia projects). Did WMDE consider how comparable these INGOs are to the Wikimedia movement in this sense? I don't see a section of your paper that compares the service/product delivery structure of these INGOs, so perhaps this distinction did not come up during your review? Or is the thinking that decentralization of project hosting and support is on the table, and the report can inform that consideration?

Thanks for any insight you can share,
Nate
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