2009/9/13 Austin Hair adhair@gmail.com:
On Sat, Sep 12, 2009 at 8:18 AM, Thomas Dalton thomas.dalton@gmail.com wrote:
While that is true, it is also important to remember that most people setting up a chapter have next to no experience of running a non-profit. They don't know what is and isn't appropriate to spend donations on, they don't necessarily know what needs to done and just because they know their culture in general doesn't mean they know how the charity sector works in their country. The Foundation could provide a lot of advice on those issues. While I don't doubt that the Portuguese Wikimedians are acting in good faith, trust requires two things - good faith and competence. They are almost certainly not competent since they haven't had an opportunity to develop that competence yet, so they should not be trusted to be making the right decisions.
Wow, that's... pretty offensive, actually.
If you are offended by statements of fact, that is your problem.
It's true that random dude in random country may not be an expert on incorporating a chapter-like organization (not a "charity," because that's not required, or even a "non-profit"), but neither is anyone employed by Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., and neither is any member of the Chapters Committee.
Last time I checked, being a non-profit (and a charity if possible) *was* a requirement to be a Wikimedia chapter. The WMF does have experience of running a charity.