[Foundation-l] Omidyar Network Commits $2 Million Grant to Wikimedia Foundation

[Erik Moeller]

2009/8/25 Thomas Dalton <thomas.dalton at gmail.com>:
> How can you have a Q&A on a topic like this that doesn't even address
> the matter than you have sold a seat on the board? Has the WMF
> completely lost touch with the community? It should be obvious that
> this is going to be a highly controversial decision and yet you can't
> even get the basic announcement right and don't even try and answer
> the obvious question the community is going to ask.

(begin quote)

Why did the Wikimedia Foundation invite Matt Halprin to join its Board?

Matt's background and skills are a great fit for the Wikimedia
Foundation Board of Trustees, which has had two "expertise"
(non-community) seats vacant since last April. Matt is a Board member
of several other non-profit organizations, which means he will bring
general non-profit governance and oversight experience to Wikimedia.
His background at eBay gives him a good understanding of issues
related to online community, trust, reputation, privacy and content
quality: all key issues for the Wikimedia Foundation. Matt also has a
background in strategy development, which will be useful for the
Wikimedia Foundation as it embarks on its collaborative strategy
development project. The Wikimedia Foundation believes Matt will be a
terrific addition to Wikimedia's Board of Trustees.

Is Matt Halprin's Board seat an individual seat, or an Omidyar Network seat?

Like all Wikimedia Board members, Matt will be a member as an
individual, not as a representative of any particular organization or
constituency. All Wikimedia Foundation Board members have an
obligation to put the best interests of the Wikimedia Foundation
first, and to do their best to support and guide the organization, to
help it achieve its mission and goals. The Wikimedia Foundation looks
forward to Matt's participation on the Board.

(end quote)

ON has supported many other charitable organizations in our space,
including Creative Commons and the Sunlight Foundation (which you
should look up if you don't know them - they're doing amazing work).
Having one of their most qualified staffers join our Board of Trustees
is a wonderful thing. Good Board members who bring the required
governance experience and the significant time and patience it takes,
particularly in our organization, to serve this role well, are hard to
find. Naturally, the Board has done its due diligence in reviewing
Matt as a candidate for the Board. Sue, Sara and I have also had deep
discussions about our values and objectives with him. I'm very pleased
to see him join our Board of Trustees; he's an excellent addition for
the expertise seats.

ON's long-time interest in wikis is not a conflict of interest, it's a
harmony of interests and expertise. If you look at ON's history,
you'll find that they've made some very early attempts to decentralize
and open up the grant-making process. It's reformed itself a couple of
times in the process, and the folks there are really thoughtful and
smart about open, collaborative projects. Our relationship with them
is not an accident, and we've started building it very early when we
moved to San Francisco. I'm hopeful that we can build a strong,
successful long-term relationship with them, as it makes obvious sense
to do so. I'm very pleased to see WMF be bold rather than timid in
breaking new ground and building new relationships like this, which
will be essential to break patterns of stagnation and re-ignite
Wikimedia's mission.
-- 
Erik Möller
Deputy Director, Wikimedia Foundation

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