On Tue, Apr 30, 2013 at 7:32 AM, Nathan nawrich@gmail.com wrote:
Florence - my comments followed Erlend's in the thread, where he suggested sending resources around the world without regard to which chapters were the most developed. Outside of the paragraph where I referred to WMKH specifically, my comments were not directed at it.
In any case, it's fictional from a legal perspective that the funds belong to the movement and not the WMF. Whoever they feel obligated to serve, the trustees of the WMF retain all of the duties and obligations to disburse the money in the way most congruent with the articles of the WMF and the laws of Florida, California and the United States. I'm sure you know this as well or better than most.
Finally, you're of course right that the WMF in its early days was lax in many respects - mostly predictable ways for a new organization without a good model. On the other hand, it was lax with money it raised itself. As a result, its duties were to the law and to itself, not to another large organization with its own duties.
To repeat my earlier point, any chapter has the full capacity to raise its own funds. A self-funded chapter is a good analog to the WMF; it can grow at its own pace, and only has to assure the movement that it is not misusing the trademarks or acting in a way to bring the movement into disrepute. The obsessive focus with greater and greater funding of chapters is misplaced; between a smaller overall budget for the entire movement, and a global effort to hire wildly decentralized administrative staff, I would choose the former.
Still, you need to have local staff to do local work. I guess educational program, including school talks and visiting, and all other outreaching activities do not require time (speaking on day-time! 9-5); and maybe they could be done via Skype or after day-off. Wait, kids go home after school.
WMF had asked us to help their wikipedia educational program in a college last fall. Maybe flying a WMF staff from SF to Hong Kong is a much better solution. Then our volunteer may didn't have to skip his class.
Ok. Now we see opportunities but no volunteers and time to execute them, so we ask for staff support in operation. Or maybe nothing could happen.
Thank you.
-- Simon Shek Council secretary Wikimedia Hong Kong