2011/11/10 Paul Houle paul@ontology2.com:
How does the Wikimedia foundation escape this trap?
Some would argue that they don't. Just look on the number of emails on whether the "wiki-love" feature is useful or not.
Plus, it looks to me that WMF does just what you say non-profits do: they get a series of grants to do things and set goals for major upgrades. There are many small improvements "forgot" because the team is concentrating on big features.
However, there is an obvious difference between WMF and other non-profits: very few NGOs have their website as their main way of achieving their mission. The website is just another mean of communication, not the center of their activity.
Strainu