Hi MZMcBride,
The Wikimedia Foundation has a section under
"Organisation-specific
remarks", but isn't included in the "Funding recommendations" chart
and
there's no amount requested, amount allocated, or proposal listed for the
Wikimedia Foundation. Why is that?
They are organisation-specific remarks. :-) The WMF did not apply to the FDC this round,
hence why there are no amounts requested/allocated, or a proposal to link to. The FDC felt
it necessary to include recommendations about the WMF anyway.
If Wikimedia Deutschland is required to separate out
costs for Wikidata,
does that mean that the Wikimedia Foundation is required to split out
costs for Wikipedia and its other projects? I'd be quite curious to know
how much money is being spent by the Wikimedia Foundation on Wiktionary or
Wikinews or Wikiversity.
It's worth noting that there are two meanings to the word 'project' here -
there are the Wikimedia projects, and then there are projects run by the Wikimedia
organisations (think of, e.g., GLAM or education projects). It's particularly the
latter case that is most relevant to the FDC's work, and in this case Wikidata falls
under both meanings.
The report includes this note:
The FDC is appalled by the closed way that the
WMF has undertaken both
strategic and annual planning, and the WMF’s approach to budget
transparency (or lack thereof).
Sort of inline with the first question, but perhaps more direct: what
power does the Funds Dissemination Committee have over the amount of donor
money allocated toward the Wikimedia Foundation? Can the FDC only admonish
the organization, but not actually withhold funds?
The FDC provides recommendations to the WMF Board, who then decide on them. The FDC
doesn't handle funds directly, so in no case does it withhold, or spend, funds,
instead it recommends doing so to the WMF Board.
Thanks,
Mike