I don't think chapters are being cut off I think they are being centralized. Centralization, not lack of funding, is what I believe will make chapters ineffective. Frankly, I think cutting off their funding would be less detrimental (although still not a good thing) to the chapter's long-term effectiveness than centralizing them into a grant program. It would be worse for the near-term, but many would still recover from it as owner-led organizations funded locally outside of the WMF banner campaign.
I would prefer that aid be given to the chapters without drastically
changing the structure from being organizations who most naturally feel accountable to their local populations who fund them to organizations who most naturally feel accountable to San Francisco. All other things being equal imagine which of those organizations will be more responsive and careful.
BirgitteSB
The only thing that this attempts to "centralize" (to use your words though it's not right) is financial accounting and reporting so as to have greater transparency and accountability. The chapters are free to do or not do whatever programs they want or don't want. This administrative change will have no effect on anything chapters do or don't do.
Renata