On 21 May 2014 14:39, rexx <rexx@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
<snip> 

Taken as a whole, it is clearly part of Sue Gardner's agenda to get rid of chapters - or at least reduce them to impotence. She has never been able to accept that chapters can often do jobs better than a centralised WMF. Despite the hollow words she has uttered over the years, when it comes to practical matters, she makes decisions based on increasing her own little empire at WMF to the detriment of those working for the Wikimedia movement throughout the rest of the world.

 
Well, hardly, as shown by the history (at least for those who have paid detailed attention in the past). 

By going into the Signpost archive for 2011, and undeleting a redirect that had been officiously deleted on meta, I have pulled up Sue's working document on this issue from 23 March 2011:

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Movement_roles/Feedback/Sue_Gardner

Which happens to be timed almost to the day to the end of the time my contract ended with WMUK (i.e. the moment when I was paying most attention to chapter matters, and was in immediate touch with WMUK's technical fundraising efforts, and governance). I had had only had some summary version of Sue's thinking, up till just now.

I thought then, and still think now, that WMUK was a good example of what she was thinking about.

There is a point about Gift Aid, for sure, but there are a number of ways in which the WMF could add about 2% to their annual income. 

WMUK has indeed issues with communicating with potential donors; but it has had greater issues, IMX, with communicating with members (who theoretically run it, though how they were supposed to do that on scanty information remains a mystery to me). If the Board hadn't binned the comms strategy I'd have a bit more sympathy.

The bottom line for me is that I saw WMUK shooting itself in the foot, at least to the point where a biped would have no feet left. So I'd advise not also shooting the messenger, but trying to formulate a case for the next time round, with the new CEO, that actually deals with the history, and what has been done about it.

Charles