[treasurers] Welcome, and introductions

Sat Dec 10 16:49:04 UTC 2011

I'm Theo.

I have been an editor and contributor to the projects for 3 years. I have
no affiliation with any chapter in particular. I have been involved in
policy and governance related issues for the past 2 year with WMF. I
started contributing to the WMF strategic plan in '09 focusing primarily on
Financial sustainability, it was one area I always thought I could have
something to contribute. At the time, I was concerned about the projects
not being around in the next few years or decade if we didn't have a
sustainable model. My personal solution at the time was an endowment fund.

I am a finance geek, my business background is strictly from a for-profit
perspective. I grew up reading about junk bonds, leverage buy-outs,
arbitrages while dealing in currency and commodity exchanges. I spent most
of my teenage years studying balance sheets of large companies while
working for an investment fund and negotiating international contracts. I
have dealt and negotiated with suppliers and clients from Hong kong,
Singapore, UK to Riyadh, Qatar, UAE and Nigeria.

I hope I can offer some advice and partake in discussion related to
finances, and generally be of some help to treasurers.

Regards
Theo

On Sat, Dec 10, 2011 at 5:21 PM, Moel <moel.tj at gmail.com> wrote:

>  Allow me to introduce myself,
>
> My name is Mulwardi Tjitra, easier to be called "Moel" as nick-name.
> I was on my break of office-routine when WMID was looking for a Project
> admnistrator. Being an active editor at id.wiki, I am easily "hook" for the
> position which then lead as treasurer.
>
> With WMID, I learn a lot regarding "NGO's accounting transparencies" as I
> do not have any experience on non-profit thingy.
>
> The more I "play" with the platform [MediaWiki] for accounting reports
> etc.. I learn the importance of having a transparent financial information
> [perhaps not 100% due to certain sensitive information etc - though this
> should be reconsider]
>
> When Stu mentioned about the "treasurer-list", I am so happy .. knowing or
> hoping that I would learn much more about how other chapters do their
> financial reports .. and the possibilities of having a shared information
> about it. Of course, I am looking forward to meet other in person for a
> beer [or two] when the chance permits me for next-year Wikimania.
>
> I also hope that with this list, we could share various idea towars [as
> what Stu has mentioned] "Best practices around governance/transparency in
> the movement" ..
>
> Cheers,
>
> Moel
>
> On 10/12/11 9:20 0, Stuart West wrote:
>
>  Now that we've had some time for people to sign up for the list (28 so
> far), let's kick things off.  I'd like to start with something that's
> worked well on both the gendergap and developing countries lists:  quick
> personal introductions and then description of why we're interested in this
> topic and what we hope to get out of the list.
>
> I'll go first.
>
> My name is Stu West and I'm a volunteer on the Wikimedia Foundation's
> board of trustees.  I am the Board's Treasurer and chair of its Audit
> Committee.  I've been involved with Wikipedia for about 5-6 years, and on
> the Board since early 2008.  My day job is in Silicon Valley, where I've
> worked for private and publicly-traded technology companies in roles
> including CFO.
>
> I'm really interested in governance/transparency/accountability issues for
> a few reasons.  In my role as WMF Treasurer, it's my responsibility to
> focus on these.  More broadly though, my personal point of view on
> Wikimedia is very long term.  I'm really amazed at what our community has
> accomplished, and want to ensure we continue to have a huge and growing
> impact for the next 100 years.  To do that, I think we'll need to give our
> community the best possible organizational/legal/governance support.
>
> As for this list, I'd like it to be a place for high-quality sharing of
> ideas and best practices around governance/transparency in our movement.  I
> hope we can attract a significant portion of the treasurers, finance staff,
> and even Audit Committee members.  I hope it can be a great way for all of
> us to learn from each other and hope we can have lots of emails asking for
> advice/support/ideas from one another.  Finally and most importantly,
> I hope we can use this list to plan Wikimania beers and other in person
> get-togethers.
>
> Who's next?
>
> -s
>
>
>  Begin forwarded message:
>
>  *From: *Stuart West <stu at wikimedia.org>
>  *Subject: **New "treasurers" mailing list*
>  *Date: *November 10, 2011 12:15:12 PM PST
>  *To: *"internal-l" <internal-l at lists.wikimedia.org>
>
> I set up a new public mailing list called treasurers at lists.wikimedia.org for
> discussing and sharing best practices in financial reporting and financial
> transparency across the Wikimedia movement. The primary intended membership
> is treasurers, audit committees, and finance staff of movement
> organizations, but the list is public and anyone interested in financial
> reporting and transparency is welcome. This list is archived publicly.
>
>  You can subscribe here:
> http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/treasurers
>
>  Please take a moment to forward this on to your favorite Treasurer or
> finance staffer.  Thanks.
>
>  (I thought about just using internal but decided against because a)
> there's lots of traffic on it already and b) i'm not sure all our various
> treasurers both subscribe to and read internal regularly.)
>
>  -s
>
>    ===============
> Stuart West
>  Board Treasurer
> Wikimedia Foundation
> stu at wikimedia.org
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Treasurers mailing listTreasurers at lists.wikimedia.orghttps://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/treasurers
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Treasurers mailing list
> Treasurers at lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/treasurers
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/treasurers/attachments/20111210/8e074dd6/attachment.htm 