Funding chapters by grants from WMF so that they all use the money in the
same WMF approved way is a systematically bad idea in the same way
sending
shoes to Africa is a bad idea. Redefining the chapters who participated
in
a joint fundraiser with WMF as WMF's "payment processors" is straight-up insulting.
Well, let's be clear here: in what sense are the chapters "participating" in the fundraiser, rather than merely being its beneficiaries? The underlying fundraising work -- the actual solicitation of donations, in other words -- is performed by WMF staff directly. The chapters do provide some level of administrative and accounting support, obviously; but that could just as easily be done by the WMF as well, and likely at lower cost. The only real advantage a chapter's involvement can provide over a fully WMF-operated fundraiser is the availability of tax benefits in a particular jurisdiction; and, given the small size of the average donation, it's unclear to what extent such tax benefits are a significant consideration for the average donor.
The other benefits are; * chapters can take advantage of local payment systems, which donors may be more accustomed to - not just credit cards * the chapter can probably make better subsequent use of the data on donors * if the chapter has a greater stake in the fundraiser, they are more likely to care about providing effective messages that work well
So I simply do not accept that the right thing for the movement is for donations to be received by the Foundation and then passed on to the chapters. Chapters in my view have an important role to play in maximising the fundraising potential of the Wikimedia movement.
Chris