Hi MZMcBride,
The Wikimedia Foundation has a section under "Organisation-specific remarks", but isn't included in the "Funding recommendations" chart and there's no amount requested, amount allocated, or proposal listed for the Wikimedia Foundation. Why is that?
They are organisation-specific remarks. :-) The WMF did not apply to the FDC this round, hence why there are no amounts requested/allocated, or a proposal to link to. The FDC felt it necessary to include recommendations about the WMF anyway.
If Wikimedia Deutschland is required to separate out costs for Wikidata, does that mean that the Wikimedia Foundation is required to split out costs for Wikipedia and its other projects? I'd be quite curious to know how much money is being spent by the Wikimedia Foundation on Wiktionary or Wikinews or Wikiversity.
It's worth noting that there are two meanings to the word 'project' here - there are the Wikimedia projects, and then there are projects run by the Wikimedia organisations (think of, e.g., GLAM or education projects). It's particularly the latter case that is most relevant to the FDC's work, and in this case Wikidata falls under both meanings.
The report includes this note:
The FDC is appalled by the closed way that the WMF has undertaken both strategic and annual planning, and the WMF’s approach to budget transparency (or lack thereof).
Sort of inline with the first question, but perhaps more direct: what power does the Funds Dissemination Committee have over the amount of donor money allocated toward the Wikimedia Foundation? Can the FDC only admonish the organization, but not actually withhold funds?
The FDC provides recommendations to the WMF Board, who then decide on them. The FDC doesn't handle funds directly, so in no case does it withhold, or spend, funds, instead it recommends doing so to the WMF Board.
Thanks, Mike