[Foundation-l] rsHorning #00 (Donations - Direction...)

[Zack Clark]

On Thu, 08 Jun 2006 20:51:26
Robert Scott Horning replied to
Message-ID: <44880D19.2020202 at world1tours.com>
initially stating:
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While I might have dismissed this posting, there is some things that I
do agree with you here.

There is the point of fundraising, however.  This is unfortunately
necessary as there are physical, tangible assetts that need to be
aquired (in the case of the WMF, there is the server farms) and some
professionals that are required to maintain these servers.  This means
that Wikipedia and the sister projects need to exist in an environment
that requires hard, cold cash.  Paying for internet bandwidth isn't free
either, and for the quantities that Wikipedia uses, normally won't even
be donated by most organizations, for profit or not.  Indeed Wikipedia
gets discounts in terms of value per megabyte simply because of the
volume of data being streamed from Wikimedia servers.  Fundraising is a
necessary evil, and that requires the whole thing of trying to deal with
accountants, lawyers, trademarks, CEOs, and professional staff.
 Considering the size of the volunteer force that is available and
working on Wikimedia projects, this professional component is
surprisingly small, even for similarly minded charitble activities.  And
the value produced per dollar donated to the WMF is quite high, which is
why thousands of dollars have come in simply by sticking out a tin cup
and asking for some donations, with the only real ads for this coming
from the website itself.

That said, I hope that we stick to proven fundraising techniques, and
don't waste too much effort or time into grants that may end up being
more of a hassle than any real value.  A couple of ideas and projects
have floated by that have made me scratch my head a little bit to wonder
just why it was thought up, but at least people are trying to be creative.

..................

--
Robert Scott Horning
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Thanks for a most enlightening response.  Your report on how we keep the 'professional' component so surprisingly small even when compared to similar minded groups (which are likely older & more experienced) is most encouraging indeed!  This plus our unusually high value produced per dollar only encourages my belief that a means can be evolved to 100% eliminate any need for FRNs.  After all, isn't your "hard, cold cash" merely an indirect step to networking hardware, cold computers, and 'professional' services?
    I'm also glad you recognize fund-raising as "evil".  Just quit embracing it as "necessary", and we'll be 98.6% of the way home.  In a like vein, I appreciate you boldly citing the "tin cup" - which bears the following label, "Your continued donations keep Wikipedia running!"  Now while that sentiment may be right on for the redistribution enthusiast, it's hardly an apt message from leading edge, world class value producers.  To convey a better grasp of reality, a more enticing offer would be, "Engage a new dawn of freed intellect with us!"
    In fact, hardware and networking providers who cannot readily grasp the value of supplying WMF with all their needs are likely too inept to remain a dominant market force for long and should be avoided.  A slew of computers or a few bags of bandwidth are cheap prices to pay in order to showcase one's wares in this arena.  Not to mention being an honored part of this century's leading freedom phenomenon.  But just to be extra classy, we should also give them a YeNom celebrating their alliance in forging a freer future.
    That said, I hope that we can open our minds to the creation of options beyond the fund-raising farce.
    I've reviewed past posts to this list to find an exceptional example of the strong kind of thinking that might be supportive of these ideas.  Interestingly, Mr. Horning's email (Message-ID: <448411A9.2030600 at netzero.net>) of Mon, 05_Jun_2006 turns out to be the recommended insight to read.  So I suspect that perhaps Robert fashioned his response to purposely provide me (the new guy) with a good lead-in to my current rant.  In any case, thanks for your generosity.
    Incidently, every time 'professional' is used here, it invariably calls to mind a dangerously diseased whore (the oldest profession).  And when contrasted to our virgin pure volunteers, I fail to see why there is any desire for the former.

Z.Clark

P.S.  Considering that you "might have dismissed this posting".  Could you perhaps enlighten me regarding any reasons why (so that I might respectfully improve my email sent to this list)?