On 10 November 2011 14:47, Strainu <strainu10(a)gmail.com> wrote:
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.
Mm, this is partially true but not fully true. It's probably correct
that the Wikimedia Foundation focuses mainly on big features or major
upgrades rather than small improvements. (Depending how you define
those terms.) But, the problem that plagues lots of non-profits is
that they seek restricted grants to fund specific projects that they
otherwise would not do. That's a problem because it means external
organizations are influencing, sometimes heavily, your priorities and
plans. We didn't want to do that, so about two years ago we made the
decision that we would no longer seek or accept restricted grants for
specific types of work. Instead, we set our own agenda, and seek only
unrestricted funding to offset our costs.
I hope that makes sense. It was a deliberate decision that we made. We
didn't want external organizations influencing our roadmap, because we
didn't think external organizations were in the best position to know
what's most useful for Wikimedia. So, we decided to handle things
differently from many non-profits. We build our own roadmap, and seek
only grants that will support the work we've already decided to do.
Thanks,
Sue
--
Sue Gardner
Executive Director
Wikimedia Foundation
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415 816 9967 cell
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