[Wikimedia-l] [Foundation-l] Volunteers Wanted: Funds Dissemination Process Advisory Group

[Christophe Henner]

On 10 April 2012 14:09, Thomas Dalton <thomas.dalton at gmail.com> wrote:

> On 10 April 2012 12:57, Jan-Bart de Vreede <jdevreede at wikimedia.org>
> wrote:
> > Why do you insist that overhead on getting this right is unnecessary?
> Looking at the amount of money that this committee will distribute and the
> importance of getting it right I would argue that a significant investment
> is more than warranted.
>
> Because nobody has told me why it is necessary. Of course we need to
> get it right, but I don't think that requires this much time and money
> to be dedicated to it. If it really does need it, then of course we
> should spend it, but we shouldn't spend it without a very clear reason
> for doing so.
>
> I've asked a very simple question, could you answer it? What questions
> do you want this process to answer? What it is about the FDC that we
> don't yet know and need to devote a lot of time and money to working
> out?
>


Hi Thomas,

Here is my understanding of the goal of this committee, but I might be
wrong.

The board defined the broader lines of the committee, but did not tackled
the operational details. Bridgespan is there to work on that, and the
Advisory Groups is there to help them define the operational details.

For what I understand, Bridgspan is easing the process of starting up the
FDC, but the Advisory Group is here to last and oversee and review the FDC
on a regular basis. So it's not just a committee to get the FDC started,
but to be sure it runs smoothly over the first couple of years.

As, the advisory group will provide guidance and feedback to the FDC, it
seems important for the advisory group to be part of the early discussions.

I understand it represents some money to fly ~10 people to SF (though I
guess in the end those meetings would match other global meetings such as
Wikimedia Conference or Wikimania) every six month, but on the other hand
the FDC is gonna be in charge of disseminating ~30million USD, some
overseeing/steering group is clearly a need.

However, I agree on one point with you, flying 10 people to SF for a one
day meeting is a waste of money/energy. I'd say, if possible, they should
have, at least, a 2 days meeting to make the most of the energy/money. But
this is details that the Advisory Group will sort out by himself I guess :)

Best,

Christophe