[Wikimedia-l] Fwd: WMHK's official statement regarding the recent decision of FDC

[Rover Wong]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Rover Wong <rover at wikimedia.hk>
Date: 2013/5/4
Subject: WMHK's official statement regarding the recent decision of FDC
To: "Local Chapters, board and officers coordination (closed subscription)"
<internal-l at lists.wikimedia.org>


Wikimedia Hong Kong (WMHK) opposes the recent decision of the Funds
Dissemination Committee (FDC) of Wikimedia Foundation. The FDC has rejected
the proposal submitted by WMHK.


Wikimedia Hong Kong, the Hong Kong local chapter of Wikimedia Foundation,
has the mission to promote Wikimedia projects and free cultures among local
community in Hong Kong. WMHK achieves the mission through several outreach
projects, which are funded by the grants from Wikimedia Foundation. The
rejection of funding from the FDC makes WMHK having difficulties to
continue achieving its mission.


We note that the FDC is concerned about WMHK’s internal governance,
financial management capacity, and capacity of its volunteers to manage
future projects. The FDC also mentioned that past activities do not
sufficiently demonstrate a record of high impact. The problem is that WMHK
is run by volunteers who have limited time. WMHK itself also has limited
resources. To increase such capacities and impact mentioned by the FDC,
WMHK has the necessity to recruit full-time staff in order to handle daily
operation of WMHK as well as manage the projects. However, the recruitment
cannot be done as WMHK lacks funding.


Another reason why FDC rejected WMHK’s proposal is that WMHK is out of
compliance with its previous WMF grants. It is incorrect to say that as all
the previous WMF grant projects were already submitted before the
submission of the proposal to FDC. It is also incorrect to mention that
WMHK mismanaging the previous funds, as there is no clear guideline on what
to do if there is money left.


We believe the decision of the FDC is inappropriate. The decision is
totally harmful for the development of WMHK, as well as the development of
free culture in Hong Kong. The Wikimedia Foundation has the obligation to
promote Wikimedia projects and free culture around the world. The rejection
of funding makes the promotion of those projects in Hong Kong more
difficult. The rejection of funding also makes the volunteers in WMHK think
that their work is totally denied by the Wikimedia Foundation.
 --
Rover T.F. Wong
President
Wikimedia Hong Kong



-- 
Rover T.F. Wong
President
Wikimedia Hong Kong