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

[Gregory Maxwell]

On Wed, Jul 2, 2008 at 3:48 PM, Anthony <wikimail at inbox.org> wrote:
> Ultimately, the purpose of the WMF is to help people spread free
> knowledge, not to collect money in a bank account.

Anthony?

When you play blackjack do you bet all your money the first time the
odds look like they are in your favor?  Why not? You'd just bet the
money later when the odds looked no better. ...  If you did, you would
not be playing for long.

Presumably operating Wikimedia isn't entirely like gambling, but the
truth remains that sometimes there will be times where luck (or good
judgment!) is in short supply, and it would be a loss to everyone if
things ran dry and either had to either shut down or change
drastically simply because income is not constantly distributed
through all time.

A solid backup fund increases the organization's freedom to follow its
mission without unreasonable compromise. If the money is well cared
for the cost of such security is low.

Would you really rather a future where the foundation found itself
subject to the whims and manipulations of large sponsors (or public
fads!), possibly against the interests of the mission,  because a
failure to heed these forces would result in program cancellations,
layoffs, or other results which the management considered to be
unacceptable?