[Wikimedia-l] Annual Audit of the Wikimedia Foundation

[Federico Leva (Nemo)]

Michael Snow, 28/12/2012 00:12:
> Donor funds need to be managed wisely, but simply performing a Google
> search for the best interest rates is not all that useful a tool here.
> If somebody wants to come to Garfield and tell him, "I've had some of my
> own money in a CD with Bank or Credit Union X for the last 6 months,
> I've been getting X% and I'm about to renew at a similar rate, and I
> know they can handle business accounts like yours", I think information
> like that might have more practical value. In the meantime, I won't try
> to micromanage the work of our financial professionals without having
> clear options for improvement ready to suggest.

All very true, but even specific suggestions wouldn't be that useful. 
The WMF bank account is still rather small, but now big enough to be 
possibly worth a call for bids (or whatever the name in the USA); 
perhaps one was already done, and that should be enough to eliminate any 
doubt. The best offer doesn't always come from where one would expect.
Usual random example, my university did a very exacting one a few years 
ago and the best offer was significantly better than the average, but 
certainly not spectacular: little more than 700 k€/y for cash varying 
typically in the 70-90 M€ range, 150 at best and 30 at worst. 
Services/fees are probably more important even though the WMF's needs 
are rather simple; for instance, requiring scholarships recipients to 
have PayPal is/was quite dismal.

Nemo