[Foundation-l] The end of donations

[Walter Vermeir]

stevertigo schreef:
> It occurs to me that when people donate money to something, it is to
> some degree with an expectation that the recipient entity grows to
> eventually gain a certain kind of financial self-sufficiency. Is this
> not also the case with Wikimedia and many charitable donations to it?
> 
> -Steven

Wikipedia & Co lives on donations (mainly) as a matter of choice. It is
the NPOV on the Foundation level.

Commercializing Wikipedia to earn an income is nearly a taboo subject.

An other way would be that Wikimedia is funded by some international
body, like UNESCO. The WMF budget for 2009-2010 is 9,4 million US
dollar. That is not a lot on a global scale.

I find it very normal that institutions are government funded. Probably
because from where I am from, Belgium, that is the way it is. But I know
that is not so everywhere. In some places the musea, schools, Churches,
hospitals and so need to receive donations to function. So that approach
would also not be acceptable for some because the have some problem with
using public funds for public services.

So donations it will be.

-- 
Contact: walter AT wikizine DOT org
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