In business I have found that the most successful companies are those that reach out, build relationships with, and where possible help others that are compatible. So this makes very strong sense to me.
The main thing would be making sure it is clear in the media that we do so as an educational charity, ie by grant or collaborative agreement or whatever. So that it helps explain what we stand for (most people know us as an encyclopedia, not even a volunteer non-profit!). There is an issue of market positioning here, or changing perception of a position, and it needs careful handling to ensure it's communicated. A corporate making such a move publicly for the first time would probably put out a press announcement or conference to ensure there was enough attendance and attention that its central points were properly heard. WMF could do worse than do that too.
Some prime time coverage of WMF CEO: "As one of the worlds largest volunteer educational charity movements in human numbers, we have begun supporting other compatible movements in order to ensure a healthy provision of many different sources of free information. Our first (1/2/3) projects supported are (A/B/C)", would do the job..........
FT2
On 11/12/10, Hans A. Rosbach hans.a.rosbach@gmail.com wrote:
We have become the superpower, and that gives us a moral obligation to think beyond our own projects. Among the things we ought to be wary of is monoculture. If Wikipedia becomes the only source for encyclopaedic information, not only does that make the world poorer, but it makes our own projects poorer. Wikipedia needs the competition, if for no other reason than for strengthening ourselves.
Hans A. Rosbach