[Foundation-l] Wikimedia finances and the economy

[Thomas Dalton]

2008/10/11 Nathan <nawrich at gmail.com>:
> There has been a lot of chatter lately in the news about the potential
> impact on charitable giving of the current economic crisis. I notice that
> the 08/09 budget calls for Q2 revenues of $3.5M., a total annual donation
> revenue of $6M and an annual revenue of $7.3M.
>
> Since the bulk of the annual revenue is to be acquired in this quarter, and
> the world is currently engaged in a serious financial crisis, what
> adjustments or contingencies has the Foundation planned to mitigate a
> downturn in gift revenue? The actual spending budget has a built in cushion
> of $1.3M, but the budget indicates that the cash reserve as of the end of
> September was anticipated to be in the hole $752. With a negative reserve, a
> threat to revenue and a very poor borrowing environment are the finances of
> the organization still secure?

I'll let someone in the know give a full answer, but in the past Sue
has said that the easiest way (or, at least, one of the easy ways) to
deal with a short term lack of funds is to defer planned hires. There
are certainly hires planned that could be deferred, so I guess that's
what they'll do if they need to.