[Wikimedia-l] compromise?

[James Salsman]

> The April fundraiser is on translated messages IIRC.

I'm sorry, I don't understand what this means. Where are plans for the
April fundraiser being discussed?

> No sane person can be expected to be put in a holding pattern
> for three months before an organizations STARTS to decide what
> internal projects will be supported.

I didn't mean to suggest that anyone be placed in a holding pattern,
or otherwise interrupted. I thought I made it clear that I wanted the
Fellowship Program to continue at least until reasonable community
consultation could take place.

> WMF in terms of compensation. It's below some companies that are
> similar to us.... Wikimedia is above most non-profits that do tech work

Could we please have some examples?  I've been trying to identify any
Bay Area tech non-profit or for-profit companies which tend to pay
less than the Foundation, and from the extent of public information,
I'm having trouble finding any, let alone any possible evidence of
"most".

Have any donor surveys asked donors whether they would prefer that the
Foundation pay salaries competitive with local software development
firms? I want to continue to encourage the use of measured data as
opposed to opinion, assumption, and anecdotes. I have reason to
believe from a small informal survey that the majority of donors would
prefer that Wikimedia *meet or exceed* the prevailing pay for the same
labor. I would also love to know how much of a reserve or endowment
donors would prefer that we raise. I'm completely convinced that
donors, the community, and everyone else who interacts with it in any
way would prefer a lot more resources for the Education Program. Have
any of these questions ever been included in a donor survey?

The number of community members who found the "Narrowing focus"
proposal in time to express a strong opinion on maintaining the
Fellowship Program may be less than two dozen, but I can only find a
single community member who spoke in support of eliminating it. I've
looked at http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Sue_Gardner/Narrowing_focus
and the mailing lists. Can anyone find a second community member who
agreed with eliminating the Fellowship Program?