Excellently put Lodewijk.
In an attempt to answer your question: I would like to ask for clarification the expectations of raising funds externally.
In previous years, as has been mentioned earlier in this thread, it has been emphasised that the 'money raised in a country' should be considered independent of 'money spent in that country'. This is a principle that everyone (I think) agrees with, on the basis that a country might be donor-poor but activity-rich or vice versa. Taken at its purest, this principle implies that the annual plans submitted should be independent of the amount of money [potentially] available to be accessed locally.
Separately, there is also the fact that several of the responses from the FDC emphasise that some Chapters should push for more external funding sources - to diversify their income streams and to lessen the burden on the global Wikimedia budget. And that these Chapters' Annual Plan budgets should take more into account those funds.
Both of these policies are internally consistent and logical, however I believe that they are at least partially contradictory. I believe the FDC is working on the best advice it has available, and I know that I have not read *all *the most recent documentation about Chapter finances. But, I would like to know if there is a policy position from the WMF Board of Trustees that clarifies what is expected of Chapters in this area.
A corollary question is, if a chapter does receive external funding (from whatever source), how should that money be accounted for in the Annual Plan? If it is in a separate budget that is outside FDC-scrutiny that would seem to be a way of avoiding accountability to the movement as a whole... On the other hand, should the FDC have jurisdiction over money that is not derived from the WMF APG program?
It's possible that extensive explanations for these questions exists already and I just didn't know where to find it - sorry if that's the case :-) Also, I'm not asking the FDC to "answer" these questions now (or saying which option I prefer), I'm wanting to know if the WMF Board of Trustees has given clear instructions to the FDC/Chapters in this area.
Sincerely, -Liam
wittylama.com Peace, love & metadata
On 25 November 2014 at 18:38, Lodewijk lodewijk@effeietsanders.org wrote:
I don't think it is very helpful to the discussions that have to be had to turn this into a conversation about personal qualifications... Only rarely I have seen such a discussion to bear fruit.
The people on the Committee is only a small factor in the whole puzzle - the instructions they get, the process and the number of applications has at least a similar impact. Let us first discuss what (if anything) should be different in the process, in the outcomes, before we even start discussing the people.
Thanks!
Lodewijk