[Foundation-l] 2010-11 Annual Plan Now Posted to Foundation Website

[Samuel Klein]

On Wed, Jun 30, 2010 at 10:13 AM, Mike Godwin <mnemonic at gmail.com> wrote:
> Sam Klein writes:
>
> I do think there are more risks inherent in this sort of growth than
>> are listed in the 'potential risks' section -- for instance,
>> "inability to acculturate new staff due to aggressive growth" -- and
>> we should be alert to these risks to avoid them.
>>
>
> Just to be clear about this, I read Sam here as saying something like "there
> is a potential risk that we will be unable to acculturate new staff as we
> grow."  This of course is true -- and it's even true when growth is slow!

Precisely :-)

> But in practice the Foundation takes this risk very seriously, and takes
> pains to promote the acculturation of new staff, not just to Foundation
> culture but to the larger community.

Yes.  The influx of staff at Wikimania this year will be a sight to
see... I look forward to seeing you there.

Ziko writes:

> It struck me that the Foundation has decided to concentrate on the
> large public, the small donators, and not seek much further to
> approach big spenders or make money by business partnerships. This is
> a statement not only about our history and our future, and also about
> our character as movement. Is it too much to call this an event of
> historical importance?

Yes, it is a big deal.  I think it helps clarify the Foundation's
philosophy as well, unifying our donors and general audience in a
satisfying way -- as Sue says, we are lucky to be able to make that
decision.

Eugene writes:
> The cost of doing an endowment drive is enormous. There is usually an 18 months ramp
> up time simply to start the drive, and you need a huge staff to manage it. That work
> comes at the expense of other work. Furthermore, endowment drives also
> typically court high wealth donors aggressively.

This seems like an extreme type of 'endowment drive' - just as we
don't court high wealth donors in general we would not necessarily
need to for this.  Setting up a dedicated fund for supporting core
services, for instance (whatever you call it) need not have elaborate
staff, 18-month ramp ups, or other extraordinary overhead...  I think
it's good that an endowment drive is being planned for the future - I
hope a target for it shows up in our five-year timeline.

SJ