Hello dear community,
the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation passed the following resolution with seven approves and three abstains:
Following consultation with the Wikimedia community on meta, the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees is now releasing the guiding principles below, which are intended to govern Wikimedia fundraising and funds dissemination practices.
We now ask the Executive Director to develop for the Board a recommendation for fundraising and funds dissemination practices that will align as well as possible with the guiding principles while consulting appropriately with stakeholders and interested parties. The Board asks that the recommendation be ready to be shared with the Board for discussion at the February 2012 Board meeting.
==== Guidelines for Fundraising Scenarios ====
* Consistency with mission, vision and values. All Wikimedia fundraising activities must be conducted in a manner that's consistent with our overall mission, vision and values. They must not create unnecessary legal exposure for the projects, or otherwise unduly interfere with our ability to achieve our mission. * Minimal cost and minimal disruption. All Wikimedia fundraising activities must aim to raise the maximum possible amount of money from donors while minimizing administrative costs as much as possible (in order to reserve the largest amount of money possible for programmatic activity), while causing minimal disruption and annoyance for users of the projects. * Transparency: All Wikimedia fundraising activities must be truthful with prospective donors. We need to tell people what we intend to use their money for, before they donate. And we need to report in a timely fashion on how it was actually spent. * Responsibility: All Wikimedia fundraising activities must ensure funds received are safe from fraud or misuse as determined by existing third-party standards for appropriate financial controls, and must adhere to relevant laws and regulations. * Internationalism: Our movement is international in scope, and our fundraising practices must support the easiest possible transfer of money internationally in support of the movement's priorities. * Independence: We prefer a fundraising model in which we are supported primarily via the many-small-donors model, because this is the model that best supports our independence. * Flexibility: We do not need to adhere to a single monolithic model for fundraising: multiple donation streams are fine. * Sustainable donor relations: We must safeguard donor privacy and avoid slowing the "donate now" flow. * Good faith: The Wikimedia movement assumes that all movement participants are acting in good faith, with regards to each other's actions and intentions.
==== Guidelines for Funds Distribution Scenarios ====
* Protect the core: Core activities that ensure the continuity of the projects need to be funded first. * Impact: Funds should be distributed in ways that support mission work, agnostic with regard to where the money was raised. * Transparency and stability: Decisions about funds distribution must be made transparently, in accordance with published guidelines and processes. The model must enable each entity to carry out financial planning to support efforts to be sustainable. * Decentralization: Funds must be distributed in ways that support decentralized programmatic activities for furthering our mission. * Responsibility and accountability: Funds must be distributed in ways that enable the Wikimedia movement to confidently assure donors that their donations will be safeguarded appropriately, and that spending will be in line with our mission and with the messages used to attract donors. * Collaboration and openness: Funds must be distributed in ways that are collaborative and open, and which respect the diverse and international nature of the Wikimedia movement.
== Reference Links == * http://board.wikimedia.org/wiki/Chapters_fundraising/Guiding_Principles * [[m:Draft Guiding principles with regards to funds distribution|Draft Guiding principles with regards to funds distribution]] * [[m:Draft Guiding principles with regards to fundraising|Draft Guiding principles with regards to fundraising]]
Greetings
Le 18/01/2012 05:25, Ting Chen a écrit :
Hello dear community,
the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation passed the following resolution with seven approves and three abstains:
[...]
- Minimal cost and minimal disruption. All Wikimedia fundraising
activities must aim to raise the maximum possible amount of money from donors while minimizing administrative costs as much as possible (in order to reserve the largest amount of money possible for programmatic activity), while causing minimal disruption and annoyance for users of the projects.
Why does the Board of Trustees think that WMF should raise the «maximum possible amount of money»? Why not ask for what is needed and nothing more?
Am 18.01.2012 12:48, schrieb Pronoein:
Le 18/01/2012 05:25, Ting Chen a écrit :
Hello dear community,
the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation passed the following resolution with seven approves and three abstains:
[...]
- Minimal cost and minimal disruption. All Wikimedia fundraising
activities must aim to raise the maximum possible amount of money from donors while minimizing administrative costs as much as possible (in order to reserve the largest amount of money possible for programmatic activity), while causing minimal disruption and annoyance for users of the projects.
Why does the Board of Trustees think that WMF should raise the «maximum possible amount of money»? Why not ask for what is needed and nothing more?
read further on:
"while minimizing administrative costs as much as possible"
hubertl
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On 18 January 2012 11:48, Pronoein pronoein@gmail.com wrote:
Le 18/01/2012 05:25, Ting Chen a écrit :
- Minimal cost and minimal disruption. All Wikimedia fundraising
activities must aim to raise the maximum possible amount of money from donors while minimizing administrative costs as much as possible (in order to reserve the largest amount of money possible for programmatic activity), while causing minimal disruption and annoyance for users of the projects.
Why does the Board of Trustees think that WMF should raise the «maximum possible amount of money»? Why not ask for what is needed and nothing more?
It's not a particularly well worded principle. I would go with something like:
"All Wikimedia fundraising activities must aim to balance the work we can do towards our goals with the administrative costs and the disruption and annoyance to users of the projects."
There isn't a single well-defined number that is the amount we "need". We should keep raising more until we get to the point where the harm from raising an extra $100 is more than the good we can do by spending that $100.
Why does the Board of Trustees think that WMF should raise the «maximum possible amount of money»? Why not ask for what is needed and nothing more?
Because we don't expect to be JUST Wikipedia forever. We have a lot of innovation ahead of us. If we stand still, we'll be overtaken.
With more funding, we can responsibly begin to expand beyond the confines of Wikipedia-as-we-currently-know-it.
If we collected only what we need to stay afloat, then all we'll do is stay afloat. I hope in future we'll expand and see a corresponding increase in donations.
Le 18/01/2012 10:14, Alec Meta a écrit :
Why does the Board of Trustees think that WMF should raise the «maximum possible amount of money»? Why not ask for what is needed and nothing more?
Because we don't expect to be JUST Wikipedia forever. We have a lot of innovation ahead of us. If we stand still, we'll be overtaken.
With more funding, we can responsibly begin to expand beyond the confines of Wikipedia-as-we-currently-know-it.
If we collected only what we need to stay afloat, then all we'll do is stay afloat. I hope in future we'll expand and see a corresponding increase in donations.
I understand your ends but I think you're naive about the means. I'm in favor of innovation and growing, but not in favor of doing it through more money. The succes of Wikipedia is due to the volunteer drive it raised. There is a huge difference between doing things for money and through money, and doing them for a cause and through a cause. Besides, WMF should not be the motor or have the direction; the more you allow them to have power, the more the community will lose the projec and the more the projects will lose their community. Money buys allegiance, don't you know that? Once you start receiving money, you don't want to step down: you simply shift your priorities. Money attracts parasites and liars, power hungry and unscrupulous people.
Don't raise more money, raise awareness and ethical reflexion about the /cause/, and give the hundred of thousands of volunteers - which Wikipedia once had - something to cooperate about!
Has WMF become a money-making machine ? I don't understand how someone paid more than 150 000 dollars a year can be at the service of the same cause than all the people who did it for free. Where is the non-profit part in "*Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.* is an American non-profit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonprofit_organization charitable organization http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundation_%28non-profit%29"? [1] (this is a moral discussion, I don't care about the legal definitions).
On 18/01/2012 14:14, Alec Meta wrote:
Why does the Board of Trustees think that WMF should raise the «maximum possible amount of money»? Why not ask for what is needed and nothing more?
Because we don't expect to be JUST Wikipedia forever. We have a lot of innovation ahead of us. If we stand still, we'll be overtaken.
With more funding, we can responsibly begin to expand beyond the confines of Wikipedia-as-we-currently-know-it.
99% of the work in the movement is done by volunteers - for free. Money is not the alpha&omega of our movement. That's why we should maybe ask ourself if raising the «maximum possible amount of money» is a the most important thing to do.
If we collected only what we need to stay afloat, then all we'll do is stay afloat. I hope in future we'll expand and see a corresponding increase in donations.
We already collect more money as what we need to «stay afloat»... But I agree this is not our goal.
Emmanuel
On Wed, Jan 18, 2012 at 12:48 PM, Pronoein pronoein@gmail.com wrote:
Why does the Board of Trustees think that WMF should raise the «maximum possible amount of money»? Why not ask for what is needed and nothing more?
I agree. A no profit association should raise the "opportune" amount otherwise there a "profit".
Ilario
Thank you for your information:
But I´m not able to enter the refering link.
http://board.wikimedia.org/wiki/Chapters_fundraising/Guiding_Principles
hubertl
Am 18.01.2012 09:25, schrieb Ting Chen:
Hello dear community,
the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation passed the following resolution with seven approves and three abstains:
Following consultation with the Wikimedia community on meta, the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees is now releasing the guiding principles below, which are intended to govern Wikimedia fundraising and funds dissemination practices.
We now ask the Executive Director to develop for the Board a recommendation for fundraising and funds dissemination practices that will align as well as possible with the guiding principles while consulting appropriately with stakeholders and interested parties. The Board asks that the recommendation be ready to be shared with the Board for discussion at the February 2012 Board meeting.
==== Guidelines for Fundraising Scenarios ====
- Consistency with mission, vision and values. All Wikimedia fundraising
activities must be conducted in a manner that's consistent with our overall mission, vision and values. They must not create unnecessary legal exposure for the projects, or otherwise unduly interfere with our ability to achieve our mission.
- Minimal cost and minimal disruption. All Wikimedia fundraising
activities must aim to raise the maximum possible amount of money from donors while minimizing administrative costs as much as possible (in order to reserve the largest amount of money possible for programmatic activity), while causing minimal disruption and annoyance for users of the projects.
- Transparency: All Wikimedia fundraising activities must be truthful
with prospective donors. We need to tell people what we intend to use their money for, before they donate. And we need to report in a timely fashion on how it was actually spent.
- Responsibility: All Wikimedia fundraising activities must ensure funds
received are safe from fraud or misuse as determined by existing third-party standards for appropriate financial controls, and must adhere to relevant laws and regulations.
- Internationalism: Our movement is international in scope, and our
fundraising practices must support the easiest possible transfer of money internationally in support of the movement's priorities.
- Independence: We prefer a fundraising model in which we are supported
primarily via the many-small-donors model, because this is the model that best supports our independence.
- Flexibility: We do not need to adhere to a single monolithic model for
fundraising: multiple donation streams are fine.
- Sustainable donor relations: We must safeguard donor privacy and avoid
slowing the "donate now" flow.
- Good faith: The Wikimedia movement assumes that all movement
participants are acting in good faith, with regards to each other's actions and intentions.
==== Guidelines for Funds Distribution Scenarios ====
- Protect the core: Core activities that ensure the continuity of the
projects need to be funded first.
- Impact: Funds should be distributed in ways that support mission work,
agnostic with regard to where the money was raised.
- Transparency and stability: Decisions about funds distribution must be
made transparently, in accordance with published guidelines and processes. The model must enable each entity to carry out financial planning to support efforts to be sustainable.
- Decentralization: Funds must be distributed in ways that support
decentralized programmatic activities for furthering our mission.
- Responsibility and accountability: Funds must be distributed in ways
that enable the Wikimedia movement to confidently assure donors that their donations will be safeguarded appropriately, and that spending will be in line with our mission and with the messages used to attract donors.
- Collaboration and openness: Funds must be distributed in ways that are
collaborative and open, and which respect the diverse and international nature of the Wikimedia movement.
== Reference Links ==
- http://board.wikimedia.org/wiki/Chapters_fundraising/Guiding_Principles
- [[m:Draft Guiding principles with regards to funds distribution|Draft
Guiding principles with regards to funds distribution]]
- [[m:Draft Guiding principles with regards to fundraising|Draft Guiding
principles with regards to fundraising]]
Greetings
On Wed, Jan 18, 2012 at 10:25 AM, Ting Chen tchen@wikimedia.org wrote:
Following consultation with the Wikimedia community on meta, the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees is now releasing the guiding principles below, which are intended to govern Wikimedia fundraising and funds dissemination practices.
We now ask the Executive Director to develop for the Board a recommendation for fundraising and funds dissemination practices that will align as well as possible with the guiding principles while consulting appropriately with stakeholders and interested parties. The Board asks that the recommendation be ready to be shared with the Board for discussion at the February 2012 Board meeting.
==== Guidelines for Fundraising Scenarios ====
- Consistency with mission, vision and values. All Wikimedia fundraising
activities must be conducted in a manner that's consistent with our overall mission, vision and values. They must not create unnecessary legal exposure for the projects, or otherwise unduly interfere with our ability to achieve our mission.
The only problem I have with this is that it is put directly under the heading starting with the word "Guidelines". I don't think it is one. I think it should be hammered in stone. .
- Transparency: All Wikimedia fundraising activities must be truthful
with prospective donors. We need to tell people what we intend to use their money for, before they donate. And we need to report in a timely fashion on how it was actually spent.
This is a very new and novel concept. I don't know of any charity which does this in the history of mankind. I would be very interested to hear the reasoning behind it. There have been special cases where such prior earmarking of funds has been promised, but the experience has infact produced the worst charity-funding disasters of all-time (I can give you chapter and verse, but this is going to be long enough as it, ask me in private E-Mail, perhaps.)
All we really need to convince them of is that we are working for a good cause and have a record of doing so. And actually work at keeping it that way. Partially through showing we are working towards the genuine mission and not being able to be bought off by temporary considerations.
- Internationalism: Our movement is international in scope, and our
fundraising practices must support the easiest possible transfer of money internationally in support of the movement's priorities.
Um, do you mean out from the direct foundation control, or towards the direct control of the foundation?
==== Guidelines for Funds Distribution Scenarios ====
- Protect the core: Core activities that ensure the continuity of the
projects need to be funded first.
I think If I had to pick one bit of this statement, I think this is the one I am in the strongest agreement with. (Do not fall into the trap of thinking I don't agree, or disagree with something just because I do not comment on it. I comment when I can add something to the conversation. Or at least I hope I do.)
- Responsibility and accountability: Funds must be distributed in ways
that enable the Wikimedia movement to confidently assure donors that their donations will be safeguarded appropriately, and that spending will be in line with our mission and with the messages used to attract donors.
Okay. I will ask the question. (And no, don't have an answer; just think it is a legitimate question.) What if messages used to attract donors and spending being in line with our mission are in conflict? Which comes up trumps? And if it is our mission that comes up trumps should we confidently tell the donors that is the way it is going to be for ever, and that our view of our mission is going to define what is appropriate, not theirs. Or is there some other way to speak to them "confidently"?
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