Hi Sue, thanks for the report. I was already looking out for it! :) I'd like to join in with Florences question.
But also have a small additional suggestion. Would it be nice to the chapters to have somewhere a list of all major software WMF is using? As a suggestion list? For example, GIMP for promotional images editing etc, so that the chapters have an easier time looking for free software on accounting etc. Would be great! Thanks a lot, Lodewijk 2008/12/14 Florence Devouard <[email protected]> > Sue Gardner wrote: > > Hey folks, > > > > Here is the RTTB for October. November will follow soon :-) > > > > Enjoy! > > Sue > > > > > > Report to the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees > > > > Covering: October 2008 > > Prepared by: Sue Gardner, Executive Director, Wikimedia Foundation > > Prepared for: Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees > > > > MY CURRENT PRIORITIES > > > > 1. Planning for Bangalore and Davos trips > > 2. Finalization of staff goals and performance check-ins > > 3. Planning for development of the strategic plan > > 4. Ongoing major donor solicitation and stewardship, foundation proposal > > follow-up > > 5. Bits and pieces (all-staff meeting, CPO recruitment, Wikimania 2008 > > postmortem, office space revamp, Board Nominating Committee, etc.) > > > > THIS PAST MONTH > > > > BOARD MEETING > > > > The Board met the first weekend of October at the WMF offices in San > > Francisco, with all Board members in attendance. During the meeting, the > > Board reviewed and approved the Gift Policy and Privacy Policy. As > always, > > these are posted at: > > > > http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Policies > > > > Treasurer Stuart West presented an update on the audit, informing the > Board > > that the audit is progressing much more quickly than last year, and that > the > > Board will receive the financial statements within a few weeks. > Vice-Chair > > Jan-Bart de Vreede made a presentation on Open Standards and a discussion > > was held about file formats. > > > > Discussions were also held about Advisory Board and Board development, > and > > the formation of sub-national chapters. Erik Moeller gave updates and > > answered questions regarding Wikimedia's technology priorities, and the > > online fundraiser. Minutes from the July meeting were approved. > > > > The minutes of the October meeting will be approved and published > following > > the next board meeting, in January. > > > > FUNDRAISING AND GRANTS > > > > Extensive work was done by all departments on fine-tuning the various > > components of the Annual Campaign in preparation for the launch the > first > > week of November: > > > > * Further testing and development of the CiviCRM donor database, > including > > e-mail capabilities – for the first time, we've got automated e-mail > thank > > yous set up for all donors > > * Development of campaign management tools for sitenotice deployment, > such > > as scheduling and weighting of different sitenotices > > * Lining up external support by design and PR firms; producing the first > > sitenotices; developing audio PSAs > > * Identifying core messages that need to be translated and coordinating > > volunteer translations > > * Streamlining and documenting all fundraising related procedures, such > as > > donor thank-yous > > * Developing a fundraising agreement between WMF and the chapters which > want > > to participate in the online fundraiser > > * Investigating historical PayPal data that hasn't been imported into the > > database > > * Inviting past $1000+ donors to make leadership gifts prior to the > > beginning of the 2008 fundraiser. > > > > For the first time, the online fundraiser is led and coordinated by a > > dedicated staff member, Rand Montoya. > > > > We followed up on leads from the Funders' Briefings in September, > including > > people who could not attend the briefings. > > > > There were 935 donations made in the month of October for a total of USD > > 65,503.32 > > > > OUTREACH > > > > Frank Schulenburg worked with the Argentinian chapter to finalize plans > for > > the first Wikipedia Academy in Buenos Aires, to be held in early > November. > > Frank also spoke at the FSCONS conference in Gothenburg, Sweden and > > supported Wikimedia Germany's Zedler Medal article writing award as well > as > > the Quadriga Award ceremony. > > > > Frank also participated in a dedicated meeting/conference where the > current > > state of Wikimedia was discussed among Wikipedians and > > academics:http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Siggen > > > > Sue spoke at conferences in Florida and Germany, and met with the Knight > > Foundation in Florida. > > > > SOS Children UK, in coordination with the Wikimedia Foundation, released > a > > complete 2008/9 revision of the Wikipedia Selection for Schools, which is > > perhaps the most successful "checked content" project derived from the > > English Wikipedia. > http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/2008-9_Selection_for_Schools > > > > TECHNOLOGY > > > > We welcomed two additions to the technical staff: Trevor Parscal, who > will > > work as a software developer, and Ariel Glenn, who will do development > work > > but also help with technical support for the San Francisco office. > > > > Thanks to a volunteer, Robert Stojnic, and the deployment of new search > > servers, we've enabled new search features, limited to the English > Wikipedia > > for now: > http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikitech-l/2008-October/040022.html > > > > We've also enabled the PediaPress technology on all Wikibooks wikis. It > > allows wiki-to-PDF export, wiki-to-ODT export, and print-on-demand > delivery > > of collections of pages. Pending further review, usability and > scalability > > improvements, we hope to deploy it on Wikipedia and our other projects > soon. > > This work is funded in part by the Open Society Institute and the > > Commonwealth of > > Learning: > http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/textbook-l/2008-October/001367.html > > > > Brion has led development of a code review tool, which was deployed and > has > > seen rapid adoption, localization and improvement. The tool allows > MediaWiki > > developers to add comments and tags to code changes through a web-based > > interface: http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:Code/MediaWiki > > > > Thanks to new dedicated hardware, the database dumps were restarted for > all > > languages. The English Wikipedia full-history dump continues to be > > prohibitively slow; we're exploring solutions for this. Dump status is > > visible here: http://download.wikipedia.org/ Concise summary: > > http://www.infodisiac.com/cgi-bin/WikimediaDownload.pl > > > > We continued consolidation of our infrastructure to Ubuntu, and this > process > > received some media attention, including a widely quoted Computer World > > story: > > > http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9116787&; > > > > Erik and Michael Dale attended the Open Media Conference at Yale > > University: > > > http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2008-November/047009.html > > > > Rob has led the process of consolidating and tracking our domain name > > registrations. We also continued our build-out of infrastructure in a new > > data-center in Tampa, and we started to gradually phase in new Sun > storage > > equipment for media uploads. > > > > RESEARCH > > > > During the week of October 20, the first Wikimedia Foundation Reader & > > Contributor Survey was launched in 20 languages. Its goal is to collect > data > > about the demographic make-up of the Wikipedia community and audience, > its > > motivations, interests, and beliefs. 4000 completed responses had already > > been received by October 24. > > > > Erik Zachte's statistics server has been delivered and deployed, and Erik > > has started compiling some interesting reports for us. He has > implemented > > the first report on pageviews, based on Domas' pageview data: > > http://stats.wikimedia.org/EN/TablesPageViewsMonthly.htm Related blog > entry: > > http://infodisiac.com/blog/2008/10/wikimedia-page-view-stats-i/ > > > > Erik has also taken a first stab at quantifying volunteer contributions > made > > during the fiscal year 2007-2008: > > http://infodisiac.com/blog/2008/10/quantifying-volunteer-contribution/ > > This data is important to put organizational spending in relation to our > > global ability to achieve impact together. > > > > COMMUNICATIONS > > > > The Wikimedia Foundation's first-ever Annual Report was finalized with > the > > audited financial information, published on the Wikimedia Foundation > > website, and e-mailed to all past donors: > > http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Annual_Report The report is a > summary > > of key activities of WMF in the fiscal year 2007-2008, an explanation of > our > > projects (including a two-page > > "anatomy of a Wikipedia article"), an overview of our spending and the > > 2008-2009 budget, a brief look at the program activities of chapters > around > > the world, and a recognition of our supporters. > > > > In the month of October, we participated in media interviews with > Computer > > World, a website of news and product coverage for information technology > > managers and The Republican, a website providing coverage of the Western > > Maryland town of Oakland, as well as of Garrett County. > > > > GRANTS AND PARTNERSHIPS > > > > Work continues on several grant proposals, including a major grant > proposal > > related to usability improvements. Sara compiled a spreadsheet of our > > foundation prospects and rated them according to various criteria. She > has > > also started to consolidate all reporting requirements attached to > current > > grants so we can keep full track of our obligations. > > > > Sara attended the Craigslist Non-Profit Bootcamp in San Mateo, where she > > networked with individuals from other like-minded organizations. > > > > FINANCE AND ADMIN > > > > The audited financial statements for the fiscal year 2007-2008 were > > finalized and approved by the Board. A summary was included in the Annual > > Report, and the full statements will be posted in November. > > > > Work began on the 990 tax returns and continued on transitioning bank > > accounts from Suntrust to Citibank. > > > > On October 20, we welcomed Daniel Phelps as the new Office Manager. > > > > LEGAL > > > > Policies and agreements were reviewed and an audit resolution was drafted > in > > preparation for the Board meeting. Work was done to follow up on > > state-by-state registrations. > > > > Negotiations continued with the Free Software Foundation regarding the > > wording of the GNU Free Documentation License 1.3. > > > > BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT > > > > Work continued on two major leads and many smaller ones. In addition, > some > > older relationships were investigated or tied off. Some commercial > trademark > > uses were also investigated. > > > > Kul has started building a sponsorship platform for events such as > Wikimania > > and Wikipedia Academies. > > > > IN COMING WEEKS > > > > Sue attending Free Software, Free Society conference in India (Dec. 8 – > 15) > > Board Meeting, January 8 – 10, 2009 > > Sue attending World Affairs Conference in Davos (Jan. 28 – Feb. 1) > > > Thank you Sue. > > A question. When the chapters and the Foundation held their meeting in > netherlands in spring, there was an agreement from the WMF side that a > practical proposition regarding business agreements made by chapters > would be presented to chapters by WMF business development team. > > I am not aware we received anything practical which could clarify what > chapters may or may not do, as well as clear procedures for future > partnerships. Maybe I missed the email entirely. If not, can you update > us on when we can expect clarification ? Could this happen before the > next WMF-chapters meeting ? > > Thanks > > Ant > > > _______________________________________________ > foundation-l mailing list > [email protected] > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l > _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
