During these discussions we must keep in mind the laws of the
countries involved. I am not a lawyer and thus will leave the
specifics to the legal counsel of my chapter (Wikimedia Canada) and
the WMF. But from my lay understanding a Canadian chapter is not
allowed to just funnel tax deductible donations to an American entity.
As a Canadian entity is the only one that is able to give tax
deductions to Canadian donors the question is how much difference does
this make. We are currently in the process of applying to the Canadian
Revenue Agency to get charity status and will have a better
understanding of how much difference this makes over the next couple
of years.
I agree that all within the movement need to be accountable for how
money is spent to make sure that there is maximal benefit per dollar.
I would be in agreement with the amount of money directly funneled to
a chapter being related to how much benefit that chapter generates for
the movement (local laws allowing this). If for example bringing tax
deductability increases donation by 50% than monies should be split
50/50. If a chapter is not tax deductible there would be less
restriction on financial agreements and I see less concerns with
keeping finances more centralized (monies going to the WMF and grants
being given to the chapters).
--
James Heilman, MD, CCFP(EM)
Wikipedian, Wikimedia Canada