On 5/18/07, Anthony wikilegal@inbox.org wrote:
On 5/18/07, George Herbert george.herbert@gmail.com wrote:
On 5/18/07, Anthony wikilegal@inbox.org wrote:
The WMF is not a business. It's a publicly supported charity. As such, I think the proper solution is to limit business activities as much as possible.
This is insane and irresponsible; any organization with this much activity and financial throughput not run as a business (in terms of professionalism), specifically INCLUDING real charities, is insane.
The charities and nonprofits I know of all enthusiastically hire professional business people to do business stuff... because it's how you get things done at that level.
This is really a matter of terminology, which I'm not interested in getting into. However, the job description of the business developer makes it clear that this position goes beyond the necessities of running a charity.
Obviously the WMF needs to be responsible and professional. Obviously they need to hire experienced professionals to do things which can casually be referred to as "business stuff" (collecting donations, applying for grants, producing financial statements, writing to donors, reviewing contracts, etc.) If the announcement was the hire of a new grants coordinator, or a controller, or a new legal coordinator, my reaction would have been completely different. I'm not objecting to the job title, I'm objecting to the job description.
Anthony
You don't wish Wikipedia to be involved in business income ventures other than pure donations type relationships?
Most big charities engage in "real business" relationships (selling services, intellectual property or content, training, consulting relative to the charities' activities interactions with the world, etc) as well as asking for donations. This is not unreasonable and does not sully the name of the charity unless you chose unsavory business practices or partners.