[Wikimedia-l] deliberately lowered fundraising growth rate (was: Fundraising updates?)

[James Salsman]

> How do you see the fiduciary responsibilities of the board playing into
> fundraising targets?

The employees of the board share their fiduciary responsibilities.

> Are you suggesting the Board has a duty to raise as
> much money as possible?

No. When actual fundraising far exceeded expectations, it was scaled
back to meet expectations based on the nonquantative predictions of
the Chief Revenue Officer. That is questionable behavior to say the
least, and suggests that the current leadership does not want to
continue to grow the organization to reach the full potential of the
current programs. In addition to the pageview growth continuing at
exponential rates, much of the Strategic Plan has been abandoned in a
recent reorganization, while employees other than executives are paid
far less than typical technology workers in San Francisco, and some of
the best performing Foundation efforts, such as the Education Program,
are so woefully understaffed that they continually cause serious
problems for the community. Have you seen how few Education Program
article talk page templates contain the correct date? Meanwhile, the
senior staff's most vaunted projects are behind schedule and lack
meaningful community volunteer participation. The leadership has not
been able or willing to address these issues.

> I'm also curious why you highlight "deliberately
> slowing fundraising" despite the 32% increase in revenue goals for the
> 12-13 fiscal year. That is an aggressive increase, even if less aggressive
> proportionally than we've seen in prior years.

If pageviews weren't increasing at double that rate, projects were on
time, and junior staff didn't have to live in high crime area Oakland
hovels, I would be less concerned.