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