Till now I had mixed feelings on the nature of Wikimedia Deutschland. On
the one hand, I was (and I am) very thankful for creating one of the
projects I'm active with, Wikidata, and supporting the one I most attached
to, Wikisource. On the other hand, I was wary of its professionalization
process and I had the feeling that it was developing away (or being led
away) from its volunteering community.
These last days have been a transformative experience for the organization.
I acknowledge that professional workers (including the outgoing ED) brought
a positive growth for the organization thanks to the donors' support and I
hope their great work continues. However it is worth remembering that
donors want to support mainly volunteers's work, and that any organization
growing around the management of funds should have in mind that supporting
the volunteer community and giving them control on how activities develop
and how funds are spent it is crucial to keep trust and develop in the same
direction.
As a member of another organization that also has volunteering at its core,
Amical Wikimedia, I want to congratulate WM-DE for giving this step and for
giving me the chance to increase my trust in WM-DE to the point of joining
them too.
Great days for the Wikimedia movement!
Cheers,
Micru