[Foundation-l] Board letter about fundraising and chapters

[Nathan]

John's e-mail reads like a suggestion that the Foundation negotiated
in bad faith. I hope this isn't the case, although the references made
to consulting with outside auditors and meetings of the Audit
Committee suggest this decision may have been conceived prior to the
Fundraising Summit. Perhaps the letter is just imperfectly drafted,
since it does seem somewhat contradictory: unilaterally laying out new
criteria for receiving funds on the one hand, and stating several
times its commitment to the current agreement on the other.

I hope a board member can comment on a few questions this letter
raises... When was the decision to rewrite the criteria for funding
first considered? What is the predicted scope of the near-term impact
of this letter? Is it thought that a significant number of
organizations will lose the opportunity to participate in the
fundraiser this year? Did the board become aware of financial
impropriety that led it to make these changes, and if so will this be
revealed publicly at some point?

I'm in favor generally of better controls and accountability for
organizations cooperating with the WMF fundraiser, and I've been
critical of grant-making decisions in the past... However, it does
seem odd for the WMF to repudiate terms agreed upon only weeks ago -
and in a letter, no less, not a formal resolution.

Nathan




On Fri, Aug 5, 2011 at 7:26 PM, John Vandenberg <jayvdb at gmail.com> wrote:

> Michael, the board announcement is not a good way to start a conversation.
> Perhaps it is you who doesn't know how to use a wiki. :P
>
> It is a pronouncement, and talks about "criteria" which are not in the
> agreement the chapters recently signed.
>
> If the letter talked about improvements to be made to the next
> agreement, you would have a lot of positive activity around the
> letter.  The recently signed agreement covers this financial year, and
> *only* this next financial year.  Now is a good time to start working
> on the next agreement, so that we can slowly work through all the
> issues related to 35+ countries with a chapter.
>
> If the WMF wanted to make changes to the current agreement, and
> recognised that late changes are going to be difficult, we could work
> with you make some important changes which raise the bar but do not
> adversely and unnecessarily exclude anyone who has already signed the
> agreement.  To begin with, chapters would be wanting a tiered approach
> to these criteria.  For example, tax-deductibility does not make sense
> for a small chapter, and it is usually impossible for small
> organisations to obtain this.  It is silly to exclude a chapter on
> this basis - the WMF cant become tax-deductible in these countries
> anyway, so there is no possible benefit to the donor if the chapter is
> excluded from the fundraising process because they are not
> tax-deductible.  Until the chapter becomes tax-deductible, there is no
> possibility for the donor to obtain a tax deduction.  In some
> countries it is very inappropriate to fundraise without government
> approval, so the WMF shouldnt be fundraising in these countries
> anyway.  Chapters receiving significant amounts of dollars should use
> those funds to pursue the often difficult process of
> tax-deductibility.  There are only a few chapters who fall into this
> bracket, yet WMF is trying to reduce all chapters to wikipedia clubs.
> And in doing so, the WMF wont have the benefit of the donations that
> are made because the donor responds well to the fact they know in
> advance that the money goes to a local organisation - an organisation
> which is accountable to the local regulatory system.
>
> This letter comes on the heels of WMF staff privately contacting
> individual on chapter boards over the last week and telling them that
> they are breaking the fundraising agreement, after the chapters have
> sought qualified opinions on the matter and signed the agreement on
> that basis.  Now we know why.  Perhaps I should post those private
> conversations to the wiki so we can use the wiki to discuss the real
> problem: how the WMF is implementing the improvement.
>
> --
> John Vandenberg
>
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