[Wikimedia-l] Resignation announcement, and a parting remark to everyone

[Florence Devouard]

Le 4/30/13 12:04 AM, Nathan a écrit :
> The WMF is not the only source of fundraising for Wikimedia chapters
> or other movement partners. Many chapters have successfully partnered
> with other organizations to accomplish great things in outreach and
> programming. Every chapter has the opportunity to raise money to
> achieve meaningful results in their area, even without a single penny
> from the FDC or GAC.  It's clearly worthwhile to adjust the FDC
> process to protect against misunderstandings, confusion and hurt
> feelings. But we should acknowledge that such problems are both a
> symptom of growing pains in the FDC allocation process and utterly
> innate to any rationally devised method for selectively and
> judiciously granting funds.
>
> In the specific example of WMHK, it is beyond dispute that the FDC
> reasonably criticized the plan to leap from zero to sixty in a single
> budget cycle. The chapter understandably faces major obstacles in
> engaging with institutions of civil society to further its goals;
> China is not a free society, and the mission of Wikimedia does not
> align well with the goals of government. It is, then, reasonable to
> seek some support from the wider movement - particularly given the
> importance of the chapters intended audience. But that support can and
> should be one of gradually building the chapter on a slope that
> parallels its activity and volunteer engagement.
>
> It's not logical to assume that because the WMF has funds it should in
> some way equitably distribute those funds around the world.

What happens to the idea according to which the funds belong to the 
Wikimedia mouvement rather than to Wikimedia Foundation ?

Supporting
> chapter operations, and funding offices and staff in dozens of
> countries, is not the chief object of the money raised from donors. We
> need to get away from the belief that chapters are unquestionably the
> best use of movement resources. There is a place for outreach,
> publicity, and targeted educational programs. But the WMF is best
> situated to supplement the efforts begun by volunteers, in the same
> way the WMF itself was created and has grown.

I would object to the idea that WMF is best situated to supplement 
efforts started by volunteers and that statement parts from the decision 
made some months ago to deflate WMF role.
But we may agree to disagree on this.

Additionnaly... I must add that when WMF was precisely at the current 
stage of most chapters (with no staff and no office), it was run in a 
rather creative fashion that would make everyone cough today in 
comparison to the requirements and obligations made mandatory to 
chapters. Uh. You may have a slightly more ideal view of the past :)



  It would be a poor use
> of movement funds indeed if the WMF decided to pour money into infant
> chapters with minimal development and fuzzy strategic goals. That's a
> recipe for, at an absolute minimum, good-faith mismanagement and waste
> of scarce donor resources. Avoiding this path was a very wise decision
> by the trustees, and I only hope they remain resolute despite
> criticism and Sue's impending departure.

I mostly hope that they stay consistant with their own past decisions 
(=we were sold the fact that the money collected belong to the 
mouvement, not to the entity collecting it. If so, decisions of 
allocations should not become WMF ones).

In any cases... I know not if WM HK should have been funded or not. What 
I know is that the mouvement need happy and rested and humanly treated 
volunteers to stay healthy.

We keep talking about editors decrease. Maybe in the future, we'll talk 
about irl volunteers (as in "chapter members") decrease as well.

In the past years, we have seen several times organizers of Wikimania 
plain disappear after the event. Burn-out. I do not think it is a good 
outcome. For no-one.
And I do not think it is a good idea to slap a chapter organizing 
Wikimania this year with words such as "infant, minimal development, 
fuzzy strategic goals" whose funding would be "at an absolute minimum, 
mis-management and waste of donor resources".

Organizing Wikimania is an effort which deserve a little bit more 
respect than this. Either we trust the chapter to host Wikimania or we 
do not. I do.

And I think that even though you are free to think funding this chapter 
would be a bad move, it would be a good move from a human perspective to 
present apologies for using such a strong statement.

Florence


> Nathan
>
> _______________________________________________
> Wikimedia-l mailing list
> Wikimedia-l at lists.wikimedia.org
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l
>