You sound like you had a bad deal with the Chapter.Did you try and blackmail them or did the chapter NOT pay you any money? The way you are targeting them makes it very apparent.Yes, the Chapter did mislead the community.Their aim is to promote and support Wikimedia projects and open access in the country.They supported your Wikimedia India Summit in January. I'm sure with the current board members, they would not have supported you blindly. There would have been a compromise.Where did YOU get money for such an event from?There was no grant application on Meta, or the Chapter wiki. From: i.abhishek.suryawanshi(a)gmail.com Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2013 23:46:41 +0530 To: wikimedia-in-exec(a)lists.wikimedia.org CC: wmin-members(a)googlegroups.com; wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Subject: [Wikimediaindia-l] Chapter Misleading Community! Dear Executive Committee, Wikimedia India Chapter. Could you be please be kind enough to clarify, Why EC was/is interested in misguiding mailing list and Indian community? When asked about CIS funding - Executive Committee member wrote : The Chapter has alwaya made things public and will xontinue to do so. If the CIS funds us, it will be madw public. Then why weren't they made public by you? CIS clearly stated - they are funding Chapter, and in past (also) they have supported in-kind. Why is the hesitation for acknowledging this? On the contrary - there is strong rejection of even having any kind of connection with CIS from Chapter representatives. (On the other hand CIS is graciously open/alright to acknowledge links with the Chapter) On A Query about CIS funding Chapter Flight Tickets : Response from Secretary was- .....making unsubstantiated claims on a public mailing list, Which part was unsubstantiated? Its the reality that this time Chapter Board Member's Flight tickets ARE covered by CIS even if it includes training the A2K team. (CIS has already made it clear on this mailing list) Why there is hesitation/resistance to have transparency? Also, the Chapter President gave statement on same thread - Please be open and transparent to the community. The more you become transparent, it is better for all. Are Chapter EC Members exception to this? On same lines, Another EC Members says - The Chapter is financially accountable to it's MEMBERS, As correctly stated by , Chapter is having money from WMF, Which comes from individual donations. So ideally Chapter should be accountable to the overall community and not just its members, as rightly pointed out by someone Again, What is the need to find excuses for transparency? When there was statement that ''AGM travel expense is covered'' instead of correcting statement and saying, its wrong - and CIS is paying for Board Trip (which is coinciding with CIS training!) Even Chapter President preferred to give out half truth and kept everyone in dark. And there was Secretary and another EC Member to take whole mailing list on a ride! Why it is important? This could be start of new era - Where CIS supports Chapter financially whenever needed. (or in-kind as they did in past and hopefully will continue to do so). So more and more volunteer efforts can be devoted for outreach/activities. Please remember that chapter is representation of the community and works for the community Current scenario gives wrong interpretation and implies that community should not raise questions on transparency because after-all we are your representation! Either consult community before lying or speak (complete) truth. Here is response from Sunil,CIS - This month, we are reimbursing the Chapter EC travel and related expenses because the Chapter EC has kindly consented to support a training programme that CIS is organising for it's A2K team in Bangalore. It is only happy coincidence that they were also organising a meeting in Bangalore during those dates. I was not aware of this when I reached out to the EC and asked for their support us. extended the offer in good-faith, unaware of Chapter-Board meeting falling at the same time. However Chapter also seems to have taken this opportunity and is now shy to accept. I don't understand why? And why CIS was also kept in dark? CIS will cover air travel and accommodation for all EC members. CIS will also provide per diem for meals that are not provided during the training. Unfortunately, we don't have a separate budget for fees. Along with 'air Travel', CIS is providing accommodation too. And Last sentence about fee budget is interesting. If Chapter is expecting public support for fundraising and other activities, then it should be more transparent and 'should avoid organized and dedicated efforts to misguide community/keep in dark.' And Hope so CIS takes care of all the remaining Chapter financial needs as well, Just keep community in loop. And Thanks to Sunil/ CIS for being transparent and open. Keep Clarifying, Keep Inspiring! -Abhishek Suryawanshi, On Behalf of Wikipedia Club Pune ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Sunil Abraham <sunil(a)mahiti.org Date: Thu, Feb 14, 2013 at 12:29 PM Subject: Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] why to donate To: Abhishek Suryawanshi <i.abhishek.suryawanshi(a)gmail.com Cc: Wikimedia India Community list <wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Dear Abhishek, CIS is not supporting travel expenses for Chapter EC meetings. Nor has CIS provided funding to the Chapter so far from the Wikipedia grant. CIS has provided in-kind support to the Chapter in previous financial years for ex. society registration costs and the costs of their financial adviser during their first financial year. We strongly suppor This month, we are reimbursing the Chapter EC travel and related expenses because the Chapter EC has kindly consented to support a training programme that CIS is organising for it's A2K team in Bangalore. It is only happy coincidence that they were also organising a meeting in Bangalore during those dates. I was not aware of this when I reached out to the EC and asked for their support us. Dear Friends, In the first week of March, we hope to release a 6-monthly report of the utilization of the grant so far. Usually we only provide an annual consolidated report for all grants at the ledger group level. But for this particular grant we will increase the degree of transparency to address concerns of the community. If you have any suggestions on how we should structure this report or if you have any further questions about how CIS is spending the grant allocated do not hesitate to ask me. Best wishes, Sunil -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Training of CIS-A2K team on 23 or 24 of February Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2013 10:48:42 +0530 From: Sunil Abraham <sunil(a)cis-india.org To: Wikimedia India EC <wikimedia-in-exec(a)lists.wikimedia.org Attn: Sudhanwa Jogalekar Karthik Nadar Anirudh Singh Bhati Nikita Belavate Pranav Curumsey Srikanth Ramakrishnan Viswa Prabha Dear Members of the Wikimedia India EC, Hope 2013 has gotten of to an excellent start for all of you. CIS is organising a training for the A2K team on the 22nd, 23rd and 24th of February in Bangalore. The new Programme Director - Vishnu Vardhan will also be attending this event. We would like the EC to spend one day training the team on a variety of issues. We would prefer if you opt for either 23rd or the 24th as we have some other trainers that have confirmed for the 22nd. CIS will cover air travel and accommodation for all EC members. CIS will also provide per diem for meals that are not provided during the training. Unfortunately, we don't have a separate budget for fees. This idea has been discussed with Anasuya Sengupta and Jessie Wild at the Wikimedia Foundation and they have supported it. Best wishes, Sunil On Wed, Feb 13, 2013 at 1:08 AM, Abhishek Suryawanshi <i.abhishek.suryawanshi(a)gmail.com> wrote: _______________________________________________ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l