[Foundation-l] EFF & Bitcoins

[Michael Snow]

On 6/22/2011 10:14 AM, MZMcBride wrote:
> Michael Snow wrote:
>> I thought it was reasonably understandable, even without perfect
>> grammar, that Ting was saying that since Matt is no longer at Omidyar,
>> if your insinuation were true, when he left the foundation would have
>> needed to bring in someone new from Omidyar to fill "their" board seat.
>> I figured that out, and honestly I wasn't even aware until now that Matt
>> had left Omidyar.
> I'm not sure it counts as an insinuation if it's true. They bought a Board
> seat. Honestly, I don't remember much dispute about this point when it
> happened in 2009 and looking back at the press releases at the time, it
> doesn't seem as though anyone was trying to hide this point. My original
> comment was only to say that if someone else (another group or organization)
> were willing to put up $2 million or more, another Board seat would probably
> become available. It's not as though the Board is incapable of changing its
> own structure to meet outside demands.
The events happened at the same time, so the connection is pretty 
obvious, but it was never a quid pro quo. While I was on the board, 
there was at least one major donor who was interested in being added to 
the board based on their financial contributions, but that person was 
not considered a good fit despite being a generous supporter of the 
organization. So no, the notion that a board seat would be available for 
money is incorrect. We felt Matt added valuable expertise and would be a 
good addition to the board, whether Omidyar was donating $1 million or 
$10 million. As he remains on the board after leaving Omidyar, I presume 
that's also why he's still there.

--Michael Snow