[Foundation-l] Wikimedia finances and the economy

[Robert Rohde]

On Sat, Oct 11, 2008 at 9:38 AM, Thomas Dalton <thomas.dalton at gmail.com> wrote:
> 2008/10/11 Anthony <wikimail at inbox.org>:
>> On Sat, Oct 11, 2008 at 12:30 PM, Thomas Dalton <thomas.dalton at gmail.com>wrote:
>>
>>> 2008/10/11 Anthony <wikimail at inbox.org>:
>>> > On Sat, Oct 11, 2008 at 12:21 PM, Anthony <wikimail at inbox.org> wrote:
>>> >
>>> >> lying about the expected expenditures.
>>> >>
>>> >
>>> > "by which I mean you posit that you're gonna need more than you think you
>>> > actually will need"
>>>
>>> Well, you usually do a bit of both.
>>
>>
>> No I don't.  I'm an honest person.
>
> I apologise, *one* usually does a bit of both.
>

Having reserves and contingency margins are a good and necessary
thing, but I agree with Anthony that it is generally more honest for
non-profits to declare what there reserves and margins are rather than
rolling them into the larger budget in black box fashion.  In the
large public sector projects I've worked with contingency funds were
always an explicit part of the budget, and it certainly helped to know
where things really stood as funding and expense realities evolved.

-Robert Rohde