[Foundation-l] Putting the Foundation back in WMF

[Andrew Gray]

On 18/11/2007, GerardM <gerard.meijssen at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hoi,
> If the US government defaults on its debts, there will still be a Wikimedia
> Foundation. When it proves no longer possible to be based in the US
> (unlikely) we will be based elsewhere. You forget that we are an
> international organisation. When we must, we will continue elsewhere.
>
> The notion that we are dependent on the performance of the US government is
> absolutely wrong.

Um, Gerard? It's a figure of speech, not a direct dependency.

If the state of the world is such that the government of the United
States has ended up declaring bankruptcy - an alarming and implausible
event - then most of us are going to be a lot more intimately
concerned with our next meal than with worrying over the state of the
Wikimedia Foundation, wherever it may be based...

> On Nov 18, 2007 1:33 AM, Thomas Dalton <thomas.dalton at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > On 18/11/2007, Ray Saintonge <saintonge at telus.net> wrote:
> > > Thomas Dalton wrote:
> > > > On 17/11/2007, Ray Saintonge <saintonge at telus.net> wrote:
> > > >
> > > >> Thomas Dalton wrote:
> > > >>
> > > >>> Being able to fund activities off capital gains would be very
> > useful,
> > > >>> but really it requires large endowments to work. Building up a fund
> > > >>> from small fundraisers isn't going to work.
> > > >>>
> > > >> Capital gains are not a reliable investment, especially not in the
> > short
> > > >> term.  Short term capital gains are mostly a matter of good luck.
> > > >>
> > > > Putting the cash in a savings account still constitutes capital gains.
> > > > The term doesn't refer just to risky investments.
> > > Money put into a savings account yields interest income, not capital
> > gains.
> > >
> > > A capital gain is the increase in the value of an asset.  When the
> > > market value of a company's share increases from its original cost that
> > > is a capital gain.  When you sell a piece of land for more than you paid
> > > for it without having altered it since you bought it, that is a capital
> > > gain.  If these values go down, it is a capital loss.
> >
> > Ok, perhaps my example wasn't a particularly good one, but my point
> > stands. The profit made on a Treasury Bill is a capital gain under
> > your definition, and they are generally considered risk-free (if the
> > US government defaults on its debts, keeping the WMF running will be
> > the least of our worries).
> >
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-- 
- Andrew Gray
  andrew.gray at dunelm.org.uk