[WikiEN-l] Foundation audit

[Steven Walling]

>WOW, that's a lot to be spending on travel! I do hope I am not the only one
who thinks that >spending $264,361 (as compared with $140,605 in the
previous year) is excessive.

In my book, that's not excessive. Near-constant world travel is never cheap,
and travel is an *extremely* important part of the advocacy work that the
WMF does. I personally am very glad they travel so much. It's my dollar well
spent, and its what spreads wikipedia internationally.


On Feb 10, 2008 5:17 PM, <gwern0 at gmail.com> wrote:

> So, the audit was released a little while ago (if you missed it, the
> important thing is at <
> http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Image:Wikimedia_2007_fs.pdf>). I'm a
> little surprised at the general silence here - did I just miss the threads
> or something?
>
> Anyway, I read through it carefully and found it of great interest. A
> number of points stuck out at me in particular:
>
> # Isn't it interesting how much Google stock was donated? On top of what I
> hear were previous donations? Some of the Googlers must like us.
>
> # Wow, that's quite a bit to spend on salaries. And I think the amount is
> only going to go way up, what with Erik Moeller abruptly going from non-paid
> to paid status, and all the other hires. It strikes me as odd to see
> employee expenses rising past equipment and hosting costs, but I suppose
> that just marks me as being a product of the old days where the mission of
> the Foundation was seen as keeping the servers running (and not whatever
> else the Foundation does these days).
>
> # WOW, that's a lot to be spending on travel! I do hope I am not the only
> one who thinks that spending $264,361 (as compared with $140,605 in the
> previous year) is excessive. Firstly, I am concerned by the almost doubling
> in travel expenditure: I don't see any particular reason for that. Yes, I am
> sure Jimbo and others did an awful lot of traveling to promote Wikia and its
> search engine - but that obviously wouldn't be on the Foundation's dime.
> Yes, no doubt expenses increased with the decline of the dollar, increase in
> jetfuel costs and so on - but I can't see that. I have to question what good
> all this traveling does the community. It's eating up an impressive amount
> of resources (a substantial fraction of what we spend on important stuff
> like keeping the servers running), and strikes me as 'fat'. If people really
> want WMF people to give a lecture or something, what's wrong with having
> them pay the fare? If WMF people need to meet, what's wrong with
> videoconferencing? Why should donations from strapped college students and
> so on be going to this.
> :#It may just be my overreaction, but the next time I hear the WMF is
> hurting for funds, I am probably not going to donate; it clearly has money
> to spare.
>
> # Heh, talk about understatement:
>
>  "A substantial number of volunteers make significant
>  contributions of their time in the furtherance of the
>  Organization's projects. The value of this contributed time is
>  not reflected in the accompanying financial statements, since
>  it is not susceptible to objective measurement. Certain
>  contributed services requiring specialized skills are recorded
>  as support and expenses at fair value when determinable, or
>  otherwise at values indicated by the donor."
>
>
> # I must be misunderstanding something, but does this really mean what it
> seems to me on the face of it:
>
>   "Note C - Contingencies
>   In the normal course of business, the Organization receives
>   various threats of litigation on a regular basis. In the
>   opinion of management, the outcome of the pending
>   lawsuits will not materially affect present operations or the
>   financial stability of the Organization."
>
> That the reason current lawsuits don't matter is because there is nothing
> put aside for them? Seems kind of reckless.
>
> # As usual, relationships with Wikia are concerningly close and ambiguous:
>
>  "The Organization shares hosting and bandwidth costs with
>  Wikia, Inc., a for-profit company founded by the same
>  founder as Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Included in accounts
>  receivable at June 30, 2007 is $6,000 due from Wikia, Inc.
>  for these costs. The Organization received some donated
>  office space from Wikia Inc. during the year ended June 30,
>  2006 valued at $6,000. No donation of the office space
>  occurred in 2007.
>  Through June 30, 2007, two members of the Organization's
>  board of directors also serve as employees, officers, or
>  directors of Wikia, Inc."
>
> They share staff, WP favors Wikia in well-known ways, and so on - and
> people are surprised when the public perception is that WP is the non-profit
> branch of Wikia, or vice versa? I'm also troubled by the sharing of costs
> bit - why is Wikia using WMF resources (presumably why they are paying WMF)
> and isn't it awfully convenient how the two amounts cancel out? Small
> potatoes, but still.
>
>
> ----
>
> Yeah, so those were my thoughts on the audit. Anyone else?
>
> --
> gwern
> primers shell mania LHR anarchy JANET ssa RFI Internet Z-200
>
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