[Foundation-l] Fundraising season launch

Tue Oct 10 21:11:54 UTC 2006

In general we should be aware of upcomming financial shortages and we should
aware of upcomming needs so we can create a plan and work on it in advance.
All these reminds me the importance of "Financial
committee"<http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Financial_committee&action=edit>and
"Fundraising
committee <http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising_committee>", so
everything could be in order.

Dbl2010

On 10/10/06, Brad Patrick <bradp.wmf at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Erik, I have to agree with Danny we need to not get ahead of ourselves
> here.
>
> But in round numbers, just as a *starting point* -
>
> If we have +/- 250 servers running now
> *and we double in traffic every four months
> *and the costs per server (for round number purposes, including racks,
> power, etc.) are $4000
> *we are talking about *starting* with a $1M computer order being
> fulfilled before March 1.
>
> If we add to that the next 500 computers, at the same rate, we are
> talking about a batch of $2M beyond that.  /me's head spins.
>
> Let's say we disagree and growth levels out at the same rate we are at
> now, it is still another several hundred thousand dollars to get ahead
> of the curve.  For that assumption to hold, however, many, many things
> would have to be wrong with our predictions about expanding smaller
> wikis, etc.  And the rest of the stuff on your list would have been
> for no effect in terms of growth.
>
> Even purchasing rack after rack after rack, these technical operations
> challenges are daunting, and cannot be ignored.  They *are* the most
> important thing, whether you choose to put your head in the sand about
> the facts or not.  If there is one thing I have come to appreciate
> even more than I did at Hacking Days, it is that the technical
> component will come back to bite us even harder if we neglect it like
> we did this summer.  We must purchase capacity on at least a 3x per
> year basis, with linear or geometric assumptions.
>
> -Brad
>
> On 10/10/06, daniwo59 at aol.com <daniwo59 at aol.com> wrote:
> >
> > Slow down a bit. Let's start with the basics. For various
> technical  reasons,
> > a fundraiser should not start at the beginning of the month.
> >
> > Befpre deciding that the fopcus shoudl not be servers, decide what the
> real
> > needs are. If servers happen to be the primary cost, then that should be
> the
> > focus.
> >
> > I am wary of turning this into an OLPC/Wikimedia fundraiser, even if
> just  by
> > tying the two organizations together. It may also run counter to our 501
> c 3
> > status, but of this I am not sure.
> >
> > Will the money go to chapters or to the Foundation? Can the chapters
> > transfer money to the foundation if needed?
> >
> > How will funds donated be processed? Who will process them? How will we
> > recognize donors, both by what is required by law and by what is simply
> a nice
> > way to recognize them? This is an enormous amount of work.
> >
> > Just some thoughts.
> >
> > Danny
> >
> > In a message dated 10/10/2006 3:27:27 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
> > erik at wikimedia.org writes:
> >
> > On  10/9/06, Anthere <Anthere9 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> > > As an individual  (not board member), I would like to ask if it were
> > > possible that the  spin around the fundraising, focuses a bit on the
> > > other projects,  perhaps the notion of virtual library, with the
> > > wikicommons and  wikisource. We have the recent report of the german
> > > digitization to  show up as an example as how we could push things
> > > forward in realm of  digital libraries.
> >
> > Yes, it seems absolutely essential to me that the  communication
> > strategy is carefully planned _before_ we ask for  money.
> >
> > What have the Foundation and the Chapters accomplished so far?  What is
> > the status of our work to bring Wikimedia to developing  countries?
> > What have our expenses been? (Get audited financial reports  out.) What
> > expenses do we foresee? What strategic projects are around the  corner?
> > What is the state of the projects besides Wikipedia, the  small
> > languages?
> >
> > The last thing I want is another "WE NEED MORE  SERVERS" fundraiser.
> >
> > So, in order to do this properly:
> >
> > Brad -  can we assume that the financial statements will be published
> > before Nov 1?  Can you work on outlining some expenses over the next 6
> > months you see as  critical, in broad terms (staff, hardware, etc.)?
> >
> > Tim - when are the  static dumps going to be ready?
> >
> > Samuel - can you pass on some  promotional materials re: the OLPC
> > partnership to the Fundraising  Committee?
> >
> > Delphine - can you compile a report on chapter activity (max  10K,
> > pictures would be nice)? What projects were completed, what  chapters
> > were set up?
> >
> > Jimmy, Florence - shall we prepare a detailed  vision statement on
> > Board Wiki? I volunteer to take a first stab at the  structure.
> >
> > Sabine - could you write a little report regarding  translation
> > projects, and future activities you can envision in this  area?
> >
> > I would suggest early November as a launch of the fundraising  drive. I
> > would like to see some new functionality implemented for  this
> > fundraising drive as well, e.g. the ability to donate directly  from
> > any Wikimedia project page, as well as a more prominent display  of
> > donor comments above a certain amount.
> >
> > Most importantly, however,  I want us to start working very soon on a
> > decent appeal for support and  report of activity so far. I understand
> > that donor attention is limited, so  we need to have a very short
> > general appeal, but those who care should be  able to find detailed
> > information about what we are doing and why we need  support.
> >
> > Ideally, the information we compile here should be useful to  approach
> > organizations and wealthy individuals, beyond just a general  appeal to
> > the masses.
> >
> > Does that sound reasonable? :-)
> > --
> > Peace & Love,
> > Erik
> >
> > Member, Wikimedia Foundation Board of  Trustees
> >
> > DISCLAIMER: Unless otherwise stated, all views or opinions  expressed
> > in this message are solely my own and do not represent an  official
> > position of the Wikimedia Foundation or its Board of  Trustees.
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> >
> >
> >
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>
>
> --
> Brad Patrick
> General Counsel & Interim Executive Director
> Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.
> bradp.wmf at gmail.com
> 727-231-0101
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