[Foundation-l] Isn't it getting to be time...

[Anthere]

Michael Snow wrote:
> ...for a fundraiser?
> 
> Admittedly, I don't know the current state of finances, though I get 
> people asking me about it. But I assume money is still needed, and 
> recently encountering what seemed like server load difficulties reminds 
> me of it. There are of course other needs like staffing (not least 
> someone to manage the day-to-day financial things, which might allow for 
> better reporting on the subject as well).
> 
> Anyway, it's been more than five months since we started the last one. 
> By the time we're ready to kick off, it might be six. We've contemplated 
> quarterly fundraisers before, and certainly twice a year should hardly 
> qualify as much of an inconvenience for people.
> 
> --Michael Snow


Hello

Yup, I mentionned the issue rather recently as well, noting that a 
fundraising might be best before summer.

I asked Michael if we could get a financial report to evaluate the 
situation. Financial statements for the year are roughly done, but for a 
part about Wikimania still not fixed. I suppose Mav should soon give us 
more feedback I expect. We have approximately 530 000 dollars in cash, 
which is roughly what it was at the end of February.

Donations through PayPal are roughly between 25 to 35 000 dollars per 
week. It might be interesting to generalize the idea of putting the 
permanent donation link at the top of pages.

In terms of getting funds, we try to get more organised to collect funds 
from those using our content or setting up search systems on our db. 
Danny also made a pretty active search of sponsors for Wikimania. I also 
tried to strongly suggest donating to a couple of organisations through 
the special project committee, but with no success as of today :-(

In terms of expenses, we definitly have Wikimania coming.

Two techco meetings took place two weeks ago and a couple of days ago, 
so I suppose we can expect new order pretty soon :-)

There are some pretty advanced discussions to hire staff as well. CEO, 
legal in-house counsel as well as more assistants to help with OTRS and 
phone answering.

So, I'd say we would definitly benefit from a fundraising. It is not 
*urgent* but we need to anticipate before it becomes urgent.

ant