Based on what I heard from Anasuya and members of the FDC over the years, I
feel that asking the FDC to take on the WMF budget is too much of a scope
expansion, unless a third round of reviews is added each year and is
dedicated to the WMF budget. The only realistic alternative that I can see
is a new committee, which I think would be better anyway because the
members of that committee could develop deep familiarity with the WMF
budget. WMF is an unusually complex organization so this added depth would
be valuable. Also, this would let the FDC staff stay completely clear of
the awkward position of reviewing the budgets of their colleagues elsewhere
in WMF including the budgets of their managers.
Pine
On Nov 27, 2015 5:51 AM, "Dariusz Jemielniak" <darekj(a)alk.edu.pl> wrote:
On Fri, Nov 27, 2015 at 3:50 AM, Pine W
<wiki.pine(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Perhaps there should be a new Budget Committee of
the board, with a
similar
composition to the Audit Committee in that the
membership would include
some WMF board members and some community members. The Budget Committee
could do FDC-like reviews of WMF's Annual Plan proposals each year.
It is an idea worth considering, but setting up yet another committee gives
me goosebumps...
I personally would prefer to avoid the "core" and "non-core" division
of
the WMF budget, since I feel that the whole budget and the performance of
the whole organization should be reviewed at least annually. The Budget
Committee could look at the big picture in more depth than the Board as a
whole and the FDC would have the time to do.
I understand this view. My concerns are related to scale (the most common
FDC applicant has a budget 1000 smaller than the WMF), FDC's competence to
review such budgets with the same professionalism in a highly limited time,
and also mixing the cashflows (after all, the FDC's allocation is also part
of WMF's budget), but these issues can probably be addressed somehow.
In general, I strongly believe that the WMF should lead by example - it
will be much easier for other organizations to prepare strategy, goals,
budgets, plans, etc., if they have a clear good example set by the WMF.
Dariusz
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