[Foundation-l] Donation drive stopped early with insufficient funds collected

[Daniel Mayer]

--- Jimmy Wales <jwales at wikia.com> wrote:
> My recommendation is that the German chapter continue to work closely
> with the Foundation and NOT go out and randomly accept a hosting offer
> and buy random servers.

I did not suggest that they randomly accept a hosting offer or buy random
servers. Of course they need to work closely with the foundation and developers
on these issues. But, we’ve all been in the *exact* same situation since our
first co-organized fund drive in October 2004. 

> The building of a coherent global network is a significant technical and
> organizational challenge that many good people are working hard on, 

The German chapter has been in limbo for almost a year now as to how they can
help globally. It has been my observation that the trustees of that chapter
want to help globally but the issues relating to what can and can’t be done
with that money outside of Germany has been a major reason why little has been
done with that money outside that nation. Please correct me if I’m wrong. 

So I simply suggested that everybody consider setting aside the issues that
have been stopping action for nearly a year. I did *not* suggest that any rash
decisions be made or that things get decided unilaterally or randomly. But I
did suggest that issues relating to legal ownership (a major bottleneck - in my
observation - so far) can be worked out in due time. As is, the great majority
of the money is just sitting there. 

> I do not think it is wise to give advice like this.

Then can you suggest a way for the process to be moved along? 

Either the German chapter can help us with global issues, or their fundraising
page needs to be changed to tell exactly what money donated to the German
chapter can be used on and what it can’t. So far, everything seems to give the
impression that money donated to the German chapter can be used to help with
global needs. *That* is why I’ve been drafting budgets and coordinating fund
drives that include the German chapter as a means to help us attain global
goals. So I merely suggested a way that that could be done. 

As more and more chapters get tax exempt status, this will be more and more of
an issue. This issue needs to be worked out ASAP, before over half the money
generated in fund drives goes to chapters instead of directly to the
foundation. 

-- mav


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