Thanks Greg for the responses.
As for the ED team, that answers part of my question. That Sue was appointed as special advisor, was indeed public knowledge - but for what duration was that? And was that a full time position (or anything near full time), given that her compensation was as high as that of the ED herself? People suggested that this included compensation for earlier years - was that the case? That would explain again a bit more.
Also part of the question was why the raise was so steep - was this simply matching the reality of the current job market, or was there something else behind it (i.e. a bonus mechanism etc).
It would be great if you could clarify! Thanks!
Lodewijk
2016-05-25 12:45 GMT+02:00 John Mark Vandenberg jayvdb@gmail.com:
On Wed, May 25, 2016 at 6:31 AM, Gregory Varnum gvarnum@wikimedia.org wrote:
Greetings,
Thank you to everyone for your questions and thoughts regarding the
Wikimedia Foundation's Form 990.
Regarding Lodewijk's first question about the legal services (totalling
US$1.7M) which were conducted by Jones Day (page 61 - Part VII): As our global reach has grown over time, we felt it was important to strengthen the trademark portfolio and solidify the protection of Wikimedia’s marks globally. In December 2013, we began working with Jones Day on our global trademark filings, registrations, and oppositions. During the 2014-2015 fiscal year we filed 1,500+ new trademark applications for 35 different trademarks in 100+ countries. A significant portion of the legal services expenses in 2014-2015 went toward the mandatory government trademark application filing fees.
These new trademark applications contained expanded coverage and revised
descriptions to ensure better protection of Wikimedia's marks and projects, including countries where readership was growing through targeted programs or distribution (such as Wikipedia Zero and mobile readership). Going forward, we anticipate (and are beginning to realize) a decrease in trademark expenses year over year, now that we have this initial foundation is in place. This investment immediately benefits Wikimedia and its communities by ensuring that our trademark portfolio reflects the maturity and breadth of the Wikimedia movement, and protects us against certain forms of infringement or misuse.
Hi Gregory, Just to confirm, the stated US$1.7M stated on page p.61 includes filing and other fees paid by Jones Day to relevant government bodies around the world? If so, any chance you can separate it into such fees paid *through* Jones Day, vs the consultation fees of Jones Day. You say it was a 'significant portion', but that is very vague terminology, meaning very different things to different people; it would be nice to have a ball park figure.
Also there was a USD ~5.2 M investment in Europe listed on p. 35 as not being program services. I didn't see any reference to it in the FAQ; apologies if I missed it (It would be lovely if the source document was posted on meta for easier navigation, etc.). Could we have a little more info about this line item?
-- John Vandenberg
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