[Foundation-l] Wikimedia Foundation 2008-2009 Annual Plan

[Anthony]

Ultimately, the purpose of the WMF is to help people spread free
knowledge, not to collect money in a bank account.

So a dollar not spent today is nothing more than a dollar which will
be spent tomorrow (ignoring interest and inflation, which nowadays
about cancel each other out).  For example, is the WMF better off
hiring someone today to implement global watchlists, or waiting a year
to do this?  The cost isn't going to go down a year from now - if
anything it's going to go up.

In the for-profit world, you also need to consider that a dollar spent
today might mean a dollar earned tomorrow.  In the for-profit world, a
company which saves too much money is a bad investment.  In the
non-profit world it's a different explanation, but much the same
principle.  If the WMF fails to spend its donations, eventually the
donations are going to slow down or stop.  Why donate to a non-profit
which has 2 million in the bank, another 1 million in committed
donations, and a history of underspending its alleged budget?

On Wed, Jul 2, 2008 at 3:10 PM, Gerard Meijssen
<gerard.meijssen at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hoi,
> This is not specific to non profit organisations, it is true for all
> organisations. A dollar not spend is a dollar saved and a dollar profit.
> This is what keeps the bean counters happy :)
> Thanks,
>       GerardM
>
> On Wed, Jul 2, 2008 at 8:47 PM, Anthony <wikimail at inbox.org> wrote:
>
>> On Wed, Jul 2, 2008 at 8:50 AM, Gerard Meijssen
>> <gerard.meijssen at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > When you find
>> > that you do NOT spend money, you are happy as you have more money in the
>> > bank.
>>
>> I don't understand this sentence.  Can you rephrase it?  And can you
>> explain how it applies to non-profit organizations?
>>
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