[Foundation-l] Travel policy

[SJ]

On 7/12/07, Delirium <delirium at hackish.org> wrote:
> GerardM wrote:
> > When WikiPedians incur personal expenses in order to do what they love to
> > do, it does improve the project they work on. Work they volunteer to do.
> > When the Wikimedia Foundation is to function, it cannot be seen as a hobby,
> >
>
> That I disagree with strongly---The best-run nonprofits of which I'm
> aware, such as Software in the Public Interest, are run by volunteers as
> a hobby, not by career staff.

There are certainly excellent and successful nonprofits run by
volunteer, and defining the governance of a volunteer or grassroots
project as "overseen by paid professionals... unlike the amateurs who
contribute" does push away some of the great contributors, since the
amateur/professional difference is not one of talent or experience.
There are also excellent and successful nonprofits, including
grassroots organizations, run by career staff.

Wikimedia and Wikipedia should strive for massively scalable
infrastructure, support, and governance at every level, not because
one way is necessarily "better" than the other -- a good project will
out -- but because we can.  The most exciting and powerful
contributions our projects have made to society have been related to
governance, oversight, and support; it is a pity to hide this behind a
facade or even an actual wall of traditional corporate structure may
provide a refuge for people struggling with growing pains. (And when,
at any level of the projects, have there not been active ongoing
growing pains?)

SJ