Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Affiliates] Wikimedia Portugal Annual Report 2020

[João Alexandre Peschanski]

Dear Gonçalo,

Thank you for sharing Wikimedia Portugal's Annual Report of Activities.

Despite all we have faced as a global society last year it is amazing to
see how important work that is done in the movement remains. Thank you and
thanks to the Portuguese community for all you do.

Talk soon,

João

Em qua., 5 de mai. de 2021 às 07:43, Gonçalo Themudo <
goncalo.them...@wikimedia.pt> escreveu:

> Dear all,
>
> Last Thursday, the Board of Directors of Wikimedia Portugal completed and
> approved our Annual Report for 2020. You can read it, in Portuguese, at our
> wiki [1].
> This report will still need to be approved by our General Assembly that
> will take place later this month.
>
> Thank you,
>
> [1] - https://pt.wikimedia.org/wiki/Relat%C3%B3rios/Anual/2020
>
> Gonçalo Themudo
>
> *Presid**ente*
> *Wikimedia Portugal*
> *Email: *go ncalo.them...@wikimedia.pt
> 
> *Website: *http://pt.wikimedia.org 
> *Imagine um mundo onde cada ser humano pode partilhar livremente a soma de
> todo o conhecimento, na sua própria língua.*
> ___
> Affiliates mailing list
> affilia...@lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/affiliates
>


-- 
*João Alexandre Peschanski | User:JPeschanski (WMB)*
*Coordinator | **Wiki Movimento Brasil*
*wmnobrasil.org *
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Flourishing of the Endowment

[Vi to]

Sooner or later the increasing uneasiness with the continous call for
donations, even if we really don't know how to properly spend them, should
be tackled.

I think this is probably due to the idea of measuring the performance of
people working on this in terms of collected money growth, I feel like
we're cutting the branch we're sitting on.

Vito

Il giorno ven 30 apr 2021 alle ore 16:03 Andreas Kolbe 
ha scritto:

> Hi SJ,
>
> Long time no speak. :)
>
>
>
> As explained on Meta, it is inaccurate to think of the endowment as "an
>> investment that the WMF is the beneficiary of". The endowment is there to
>> support the Projects, rain or shine.
>>
>
>
>
> I don't think you can separate the WMF from its projects, which are the
> WMF's wholly owned property and its whole raison d'être.
>
> The Wikimedia Endowment page on Meta[1] actually states very clearly in
> its lead paragraph who benefits from the Endowment. It says,
>
> "The funds may be transferred from Tides either to the Wikimedia
> Foundation or to other charitable organisations selected by the Wikimedia
> Foundation to further the Wikimedia mission."
>
> The Wikimedia Foundation alone controls how the funds are used (limited
> only by whatever UPMIFA or donor-specific constraints apply).
>
> Moreover, as I'm sure you know, the Endowment is actually about to be
> returned in full to the WMF, to be placed into a new 501(c)(3) organisation
> the WMF will set up. If anyone familiar with the matter could outline the
> envisaged legal structure of that future organisation, that would be great.
>
>
>
>
>> To quote from my initial proposal
>>  (*NB: past proposals
>> may not reflect current or future endowment goals; among other things I
>> don't know that we've ever tried to narrowly define and optimize core
>> services ;*) :
>>
>> "The endowment should be large enough to sustainably support the basic
>> operation of the Projects (see iii. below), able to grow with inflation
>> while supporting any needed central server farms and technical support with
>> its interest, and of a size that we can raise."
>>
>>
>
>
> Including the $100 million endowment, the WMF will now have investments of
> around $200 million (excluding cash and cash equivalents), for an annual
> investment income of over $10 million. That is already enough to run core
> services. Wikimedia posted total expenses of $3.5 million in 2007/2008, a
> year after Wikipedia became a global top-ten website.
>
> The problem for me – and many other rank-and-file volunteers – is not the
> idea of an endowment as such, but fundraising messages saying "Wikipedia
> really needs you this Tuesday" to donate money so Wikipedia can "stay
> online", "protect its independence", etc., or "to show the volunteers their
> work matters".
>
> The WMF creates the impression that it struggles to keep Wikipedia up and
> running; people then feel scared or guilty, think Wikipedia is struggling,
> or dying, or will soon put up a paywall;[2] and the WMF does little to
> correct that mistaken impression, even when directly asked about it as in
> Katherine's recent The Daily Show interview[3]. One is left with the
> uncomfortable conclusion that the WMF creates and fails to correct that
> false impression because it benefits financially from it.
>
> If tens of millions of dollars of the money collected under that false
> premise, that Wikipedia is struggling, then end up in an endowment grown to
> $100 million in half the time originally planned for, that is unseemly. No
> one should beg for money claiming to be penniless if what they're actually
> doing is building up a $100 million investment portfolio in record time.
>
> The last phrase ("show the volunteers their work matters") is
> objectionable for a different reason, and people at the WMF I think are
> well aware that volunteers object to it. Nevertheless, it just ran again on
> fundraising banners in Brazil, only to be withdrawn after complaints from
> the pt.WP community.[4] I would love it if this one could really be phased
> out now!
>
>
>
>
>> 2. Would it be possible to provide, say, monthly updates for the
>>> Endowment on Meta?
>>>
>>
>> Once a year is standard and would suffice here, I should think.
>>
>
>
>
> I disagree, SJ. The Meta page[1] has a blue progress bar showing how much
> money is in the Endowment. To me it is incompatible with the idea of a wiki
> – a website designed to support continuous updates – for such a progress
> bar to be up to a year out of date. It's not what a reasonable reader of
> that page would expect.
>
>
>
>
>> 3. Could a mention of the Endowment, and the fact that the posted
>>> expenses include $5 million paid to the endowment, be added to the FAQ?
>>>
>>> (The FAQ refers to the most recent audited accounts, and thus is still a
>>> live document. For Awards and grants, which includes the $5 million paid to
>>> the endowment, the FAQ summary is: "We increased our awards