----- Original Message ---- From: Jussi-Ville Heiskanen cimonavaro@gmail.com
Indeed. And a further thing that separates Foundation trustees from being shareholders is that the trustees have not made an undertaking in expectation of getting some dividend based on the profit made by the corporation.
The only thing the Wikimedia Foundations trustees have promised, hopefully, is that they will do their best; not that they will try to maximise the money gathered for some party who gains monetarily from what the Wikimedia Foundations activities bring forth.
It would be a sad day if you could buy into the board of Wikimedia Foundation, like shares can buy control of a corporation. I know that Jimbo has spoken on this matter to different effect, but this is my view.
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I think I know what your answer to this will be based on your response ... But, I wanted to ask anyway and see if others chimed in. Many non-profit boards expect each board member to commit to raising a certain amount of money for the organization as a part of being on the board. Are you saying that you would be against such a requirement?
Sue Anne sreed1234@yahoo.com
On 7/21/07, Sue Reed sreed1234@yahoo.com wrote:
----- Original Message ---- From: Jussi-Ville Heiskanen cimonavaro@gmail.com
It would be a sad day if you could buy into the board of Wikimedia Foundation, like shares can buy control of a corporation. I know that Jimbo has spoken on this matter to different effect, but this is my view.
I think I know what your answer to this will be based on your response ... But, I >wanted to ask anyway and see if others chimed in. Many non-profit boards >expect each board member to commit to raising a certain amount of money for >the organization as a part of being on the board. Are you saying that you would >be against such a requirement?
I am not saying specifically that I would be against such a requirement. Such a requirement, if it were made to *each* would not constitute buying in to becoming a board member. It would be bad if it were an "auction" and that person was appointed as trustee who promised the *largest* donation. Even if a direct donation by the prospective board member themself, to me it would be more in the nature of the price of a country club membership than buying shares in a profit making company. To re-emphasize, I think it would be sad if there was a "market value" for a seat on the board which could go up and down according to how well Wikimedia was doing or other considerations which would affect how much people would desire to be on the board of Trustees.
I am not saying either that I quite see whether such a requirement would ensure the best functioning of the board, but that is properly a separate issue.
-- Jussi-Ville Heiskanen, ~ [[User:Cimon Avaro]]
Jussi-Ville Heiskanen wrote:
On 7/21/07, Sue Reed sreed1234@yahoo.com wrote:
But, I >wanted to ask anyway and see if others chimed in. Many non-profit boards >expect each board member to commit to raising a certain amount of money for >the organization as a part of being on the board. Are you saying that you would >be against such a requirement?
I am not saying specifically that I would be against such a requirement. Such a requirement, if it were made to *each* would not constitute buying in to becoming a board member. It would be bad if it were an "auction" and that person was appointed as trustee who promised the *largest* donation. Even if a direct donation by the prospective board member themself, to me it would be more in the nature of the price of a country club membership than buying shares in a profit making company. To re-emphasize,
I would certainly oppose such a requirement. For some organizations it would be perfectly acceptable to have a Board that focuses on fundraising. For us, we need a policy-making Board that is able to wrestle with some really complicated issues in uncharted territory, some of which may even appear to contradict a fundraising mission. We absolutely need a varied assortment of skills on the Board, including fundraising. Putting undue emphasis on fundraising may provide us with a WMF that is headed in a completely different direction from that of the community.
Ec
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