[Foundation-l] Fundraising & Networking updates

[Andrew Whitworth]

On Jan 8, 2008 5:44 PM, Nathan <nawrich at gmail.com> wrote:
> My question is this:
>
> Regarding these powerful and influential rainmakers and possibly major
> donors, what are you offering them in return for their assistance?

There is always the "altruism" of tax deductibility :)

I think that there are a lot of ways that we could repay a significant
donation. Even in the case that Jimmy mentioned of a board
appointment, we've been talking about getting more "professionals"
onto the board anyway, so having such a member appointed, a member
with strong business connections, may actually be a benefit to us.

Creating an endowment, or even a "John Q Donor Memorial Scholarship",
or renaming the chair the "John Q Donor Memorial Chair", or whatever
is a small price to pay. There are a lot of concessions I think we
could make on the business side. However I, like many other
wikimedians, would be very upset if undue bias started leaking into
our content. We can compromise on many things, but we shouldnt
compromise our ideals.

--Andrew Whitworth