Initially I had much the same misgivings about the NEH grant as others have
voiced on this mailing list.
On reflection though, I think I see a glimmering of a possible way to have our
grant and enchance our incentives for individual contributors too. This however
would require some (possibly controversial) decisive action from the board.
What I would envision is a deliberate self-limitation of amount of grant money
applied for from any single source. The *ideal* heuristic (albeit probably much
too complex for reality) IMHO would be for a change in the by-laws whereby the
Wikimedia Foundation will only solicit grants _from_ _any_ _single_ _source_ for
no more than one third of "lifetime" accrued individual donations to the
foundation, plus one fifth of the aggregate of other grants previously confirmed
during the preceding equivalent period.
This would guarantee that individual donations would remain in the driving seat,
and even provide a "multiplier effect" whereby somebody who gives 5 dollars by
paypal will know that not only is he contributing that fiver, but she is
permanently enhancing the foundations wherewithal to finance itself.
Metaphorically this would be like using grants as stilts rather than
prosthetics; remove them, and we can still walk.
Beyond this concept, I would add that one thing not yet commented upon is the
possibility of grants exposing us to Robert Mappelthorpe/NEA type of political
football. Even though becoming a topic on the McLaughlin group and equivalents
would guarantee publicity, it is prudent and strategically to our advantage to
be able to actually believably be able to offer to return any grant money if our
articles on Felching, Rimming etc. are taken up by Limbaugh and co.
So maybe one way forward would be to apply for a very modest grant from the NEH
with a skeleton (minimum required) application form, establishing that we are
interested in the grant, and may apply for a larger one in the future, with more
comprehensive plans indicated. That way, if we do not get it, we will not have
fallen on our collective faces, but we do not give the impression that we
spurn the NEH either, nor lack future ambition.
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jussi-ville heiskanen