Thanks for this constructive invitation. I look forward to this conversation, and I commit to contribute to it, as invited, from my perspective, once some community members have offered opinions.
One point I'd beg to differ on, though, right from the start, is your suggestion that WMIN focus on raising funds independently:
This is in response to WMIN not being granted the full amount it has requested via the Annual Plan Grants process[1]. Since funds are available relatively plentifully at the movement level, and since WMF is strategically interested in promoting the mission in India, I would argue a better (and easier!) solution would be to address the likely sources of misalignment between WMIN's expectations and thinking and those of WMF and the FDC[2].
A conversation such as the one you began now is certainly a step in the right direction, and I am optimistic that with open dialogue we can achieve alignment on questions like:
* current strengths/resources and weaknesses/gaps
* strategy and plans
* WMIN's place in the context of other Wikimedia work in India
* the role of staff and the terms under which funding for staff would be a good investment
These topics have been discussed before, of course, but the fact is alignment was never reached. To achieve it, we'd need to have open conversations (most such conversations had so far have _not_ been open), to put aside bruised egos and strong feelings (justified or unjustified) about past decisions, and to focus with some discipline on the above questions (and others). I look forward to such engagement.
Again, I say all this in the context of the question of funding. If such alignment is achieved, WMIN would find it remarkably easy to get funding for its needs, including staff, and would not need to develop the capabilities and to put in the effort required to raise the funds locally, from sources other than the on-wiki fundraiser. I would _like_ to see fundraiser funds get used to fund WMIN.
This question is perhaps not the best _first_ question for this conversation; it would probably be better to begin with some vision-sharing, some imagining of where we want to get to. But since you mentioned it as an obvious direction WMIN would need to develop in, I thought I should point out it's not at all obvious, from our perspective.
Thanks again for engaging in good faith.
Asaf
[2] I do not speak for the Funds Dissemination Committee and was not part of the deliberations or decision on this, though I did deliver a compliance report about past grants as one of the inputs for the committee's deliberations.