On 6 February 2013 23:08, Andrew Turvey <andrewrturvey(a)googlemail.com> wrote:
That's an interesting way of putting it! However,
now that the WMF has come
out against, is there any way that the WCA can fulfill its stated aims?
Furthermore, if WMUK continues to support the WCA, will this damage the
chapter's relationship with the Foundation?
The key issue will be funding. The FDC deducted from all the
applications any amount intended to be contributed to the WCA and
there was a suggestion that the WCA would apply directly to the FDC
for funds. I think we can safely assume that won't be happening now.
That may mean the FDC will be willing to fund the WCA through
chapters, at least once there is a clear budget (that was one of the
main reasons they rejected that part of the applications - chapters
were just making wild guesses about the amounts). Of course, that
would put them on a collision course with the WMF board, who have to
approve the FDC's recommendations. Would the WMF board overrules the
FDC over it? I have no idea. I also have no idea if the FDC would risk
it.
If the FDC doesn't approve funding, chapters can fund the WCA out of
their FDC grants anyway (they are unrestricted grants), although they
may not want to risk future FDC grants by doing so. The WCA can also
be funded by non-WMF money. Only WMDE has a significant amount of that
at the moment, and much of it is restricted (mainly to Wikidata), but
I know WMUK has been investigating other revenue streams and I'm sure
other chapters are too. Without access to WMF funds, the FDC may need
to scale down its plans a little, but there doesn't seem to be much
appetite for large scale spending anyway. It could probably make do
with £100k p.a. if it had to, which works out at an average of £2.5k
per chapter (presumably with more coming from wealthier chapters and
less from the others), which should be easily achievable.
As long as the FDC can get the funding it needs, there is no reason it
can't function as planned. WMF support would make it easier, but isn't
essential. Representing the views of the chapters in discussions with
the WMF is the only part of its planned activities that involve the
WMF, and I don't think the WMF can really refuse to talk to it if
that's what the chapters want. (There are plenty of examples of big
businesses trying to break unions - it tends not to end well for the
big businesses.)
Would continuing to support the WCA harm WMUK's relationship with the
WMF? Perhaps, but the only way I can really see that happening is if
WMUK funds it out of an FDC grant contrary to the FDC's wishes and
there are ways around that.