[Foundation-l] Fwd: [WMF Staff] Happy New Year (LONG update note)

[Florence Devouard]

Thank you for forwarding this email Erik. Very appreciated and very helpful.

I have been thinking... would it be possible to quickly draft an org 
chart, including the names of the people themselves, save it as "image" 
and add it to the [[staff]] page on Foundation ?

I think it would be very helpful.

Ant

Erik Moeller wrote:
> FYI-
> 
> for those who are interested, a longer update from Sue on various
> operational issues. I've posted the attached org chart to:
> http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Image:Wikimedia_Foundation_Org_Chart_January_2008.pdf
> 
> Staff reports are coming in again now with some increased regularity;
> as we fine-tune the process, I hope we'll be able to post an
> aggregated report to foundation-l (and/or a Foundation blog) at least
> once or twice a month.
> 
> Best,
> Erik
> 
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Sue Gardner <sgardner at wikimedia.org>
> Date: Jan 11, 2008 4:11 AM
> Subject: [WMF Staff] Happy New Year (LONG update note)
> To: WMF Staff Mailing List <staff at lists.wikimedia.org>
> 
> 
> Hi folks, and happy new year,
> 
> Because we've been so dispersed, it's been really tough keeping everyone
> in the loop on what's going on. Hence, this big e-mail. There is a whole
> bunch of information below, broken into subcategories. Feel free to
> share it with anyone you like - it's not confidential.
> 
> Also: attached, the "immediate future" final org chart: this is what the
> Foundation staff will look like once the current wave of hiring is
> complete - say, by March.
> 
> Lastly – please do read (or at least skip) to the end; there's a bunch
> of 'to do' stuff there.
> 
> Thanks,
> Sue
> 
> STAFFING UPDATE
> 
> * We've taken possession of the San Francisco office, but won't move in
> for at least another week. Hence, the San Francisco people are currently
> working from home. More on the new office below.
> 
> * Currently in San Francisco:
> - Cheryl Steffen: New, my assistant, started in December;
> - Erica Ortega: New, office manager, started in December;
> - Brion Vibber: The Foundation's first employee and our CTO, relocated
> to SF from St. Petersburg just before Christmas;
> - Cary Bass: Volunteer coordinator, relocated from St Petersburg about a
> week ago;
> - Kul Wadhwa: New, head of business development, started a week ago;
> - Erik Möller: New to the staff but formerly executive secretary of the
> board and a longtime volunteer, deputy director, arrives in SF Tuesday;
> - Mike Godwin: Legal counsel, started in July, will relocate from
> Washington DC in a few weeks;
> - me: ED, started in June, am currently in St Pete but mostly these days
> in SF.
> 
> * Outside the United States:
> -Tim Starling: software developer, Melbourne, Australia;
> - Delphine Ménard : Chapters coordinator, Frankfurt;
> - Mark Bergsma: system & network admin, Eindhoven, the Netherlands;
> - Jay Walsh: New, head of communications, Vancouver Island, Canada.
> 
> * St Petersburg
> - Barbara Brown, office manager;
> - Sandy Ordonez, communications;
> - Vishal Patel, business development;
> - Oleta McHenry, accountant;
> - Rob Halsell, IT manager and server admin.
> 
> Barbara, Sandy and Vishal will finish with us at the end of January,
> although they've all agreed to take our calls and answer questions long
> after that :-) Oleta will stay til the end of March, so that she can
> have a good long handover with the SF accountant. And, following the
> closure of the St Petersburg office, Rob will continue to work for the
> Foundation out of Tampa, maintaining the Tampa servers.
> 
> * There are a number of new hires pending. Erik and I'll probably
> announce the new CFOO within the next two weeks, and the new head of
> development (fundraising) by the end of January. The CFOO will then hire
> our SF accountant, who will likely be announced sometime late February
> or early March. There are a few software developer positions open: I
> believe those job descriptions are in development. And we have a vacancy
> for the head of partnerships, which I may or may not fill within the
> next few months. There's also a vacant "head of public outreach"
> position which I've currently got on hold; I don't have any plans to
> revive it in the immediate future.
> 
> * Pending hires
> - CFOO
> - Head of development
> - Accountant
> - Software developers
> - Head of partnerships
> 
> NEW OFFICE UPDATE
> 
> I know Erica is sending regular detailed updates on the new office, and
> it's not interesting for everyone, so I will keep this part short.
> Upshot: We have signed a lease, and all the SF staff (with the exception
> of Mike) have now visited the new space. We officially take possession
> on I believe Monday. We've got chairs and desks, and Erica is sourcing
> other furniture and equipment. Rob is looking after internet
> connectivity, the phone system, printer shipping, and all our other
> office IT needs. There is a little work left to be done on the space:
> the landlord is fixing a few things, and having the space cleaned. I
> believe Erica's target for having us fully moved in is January 15. If
> you've got questions, please send them her way :-)
> 
> FUNDRAISER UPDATE
> 
> The online fundraiser is complete, and has raised more than $2m from
> nearly 45,000 contributors. (This actually underrepresents the total,
> because it does not include all sources for donations - for example, it
> does not include donations to Dexia, or the chapters.) Erik is currently
> pulling together a postmortem document, which we will give to the new
> head of development so he/she has a head start on planning for next time.
> 
> I think Erik has asked some of you for information/data for the
> postmortem. If not, and you have something you want to contribute, go to
> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising_2007/Notes, where you can add
> links/info. I am encouraging Erik to not make the process too elaborate,
> because I think we have a pretty good grasp of what we should focus on
> next time (e.g., planning earlier, making sure the sitenotice and
> landing page are attractive, counting dollars not people, finetuning the
> appeals messaging, fixing our translation problems, using the matching
> donations earlier, etc.). I would say the fundraiser was pretty bumpy
> this year, but successful nonetheless - and I really appreciate
> everyone's hard work on it.
> 
> MAJOR DONOR ROADSHOW UPDATE
> 
> As you know, in December, Erik and I went on a tour of Silicon Valley to
> meet up with potential major donors. A number of next steps have arisen
> out of that, which some of you are involved with (e.g., the meeting with
> Sun & some other bits & pieces).
> 
> In January/February, we'll embark on phase two, talking to more people
> in the valley, and perhaps expanding beyond it. Additionally, we're
> targeting February for a potential-major-donor-and-rainmaker dinner or
> meeting. This, I hope, will be the beginning of the development of a
> rainmaker committee that will support the new head of fundraising in
> major donor cultivation. (This is a role that the board fills in most
> non-profits: when the board doesn't do fundraising, you need to develop
> some other mechanism for it.) If you've got questions/comments, talk
> with me or Erik.
> 
> AUDIT
> 
> The auditors' field work is complete, and I believe Oleta has now
> responded to all their outstanding questions and requests. This means
> the auditors will now begin to compile their report. Ordinarily this
> would take about two weeks, but in this case it may take slightly
> longer: 1., they still may come up with additional questions as they put
> it together, and 2., because we didn't expect the audit to take so long,
> they may have unavoidable commitments they need to juggle along with us
> - so, we may not have their full attention. Regardless, the audit report
> will be completed pretty soon - they say, before the end of the month.
> 
> NEXT STEPS
> 
> We have a lot of new people hired, and a few more to come - and of
> course, we're not yet settled into the San Francisco office. It's going
> to take us a while to establish a rhythm for how we will all work
> together – so it will be kind of organic and iterative for a while :-)
> 
> So I'm going to ask you all to do a couple of things:
> 
> * Let's please revive the weekly reports to the staff list. Recapping
> for the new people: everyone is supposed to send a report to the staff
> list, ideally around midday Friday. (The exception to 'everyone' is the
> tech team, which is represented by Brion.) The report should cover what
> you did in the past week, and your goals for the coming week. It doesn't
> have to be formal or long: it's just intended to keep me and the rest of
> the staff up-to-speed.
> 
> * As you know, I generally build my own report to the board largely out
> of your reports to me, and I send that report to you right after sending
> it to the board – so, for the new people: that report is a pretty good
> way to keep on top of my priorities and what everyone has been doing.
> 
> * In February, I'll revive our regular meetings in the same pattern as
> before: all-staff every second week, and headquarters-staff-only in the
> alternate weeks. I am hoping that meeting will later be superseded by
> smaller and more focused ones, but I think it will be useful in the
> beginning to all meet together. Cheryl will let you know when these will
> start up again: in the meantime, if you have any preferences re
> day/time, please tell her.
> 
> * As the new people establish themselves, I would like us all to start
> experimenting with the mechanisms we have for working with each other,
> and with the volunteers. For example, I know Erik has already been
> talking with Kul and Jay about ways to engage volunteers usefully and
> constructively in their areas -and i know Cary will get pulled into this
> too- this is great :-) Also, we on the staff should also be thinking
> about how we want to work with each other. For example, Kul may want to
> pull together regular biz dev meetings - even if the only other
> participant is Mike :-) The tech team will meet in whatever way it
> thinks is best. I will ask the CFOO to establish a weekly revenue
> meeting of her/himself, plus me/Erik, plus Kul, the head of fundraising,
> and maybe also Brion. There should probably be a weekly admin meeting of
> Erica, Cheryl, Oleta and eventually also the CFOO. The upshot is: new
> people and new roles make it time for us to rethink how we can best
> interact. Please experiment with whatever makes sense to you, and know
> that I'll be doing the same :-)
> 
> * Last point. I've asked Pat Hughes (the facilitator who helped us stage
> the "chapters" meeting in Frankfurt in December 2006) to help me put
> together an orientation/teambuilding session for San Francisco. I will
> not be flying in non-San-Francisco staff for this -with the exception of
> Jay, who is new and needs to meet people- it's too expensive. However,
> we're going to try to find a non-excruciating way to include non-SF
> staff in at least a small part of the agenda. So, please, all of you,
> reserve the dates of February 11 and 12. If you absolutely cannot be
> available for all or part of those days, please let Cheryl know, and
> also please put it in the staff calendar.
> 
> * Okay, not quite done ;-) Re the staff calendar: if you do not have
> access, please ask Erica to give it to you. Recapping for those who
> don't know: all your holidays should please appear in the calendar -
> Erica will put them there once they've been approved. Please feel free
> to put anything else in the calendar that you think might be useful for
> others - like, San Francisco meet-ups; important meeting dates;
> whatever. Also, Erica will ensure that all U.S. statutory holidays are
> in the calendar, so people know when the office will be closed.
> 
> Long mail, but I hope it's helpful. And welcome to all the new staff,
> welcome back from holiday to the existing staff, and my early -and
> continual!- thanks to the people in St Pete for keeping the ship afloat.
> It's going well: many thanks to you all :-)
> 
> Sue
> 
> 
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