[Wikimedia-l] Notes from the Cascasdia Wikimedians User Group annual meeting

[Pine W]

Hello colleagues,

This afternoon, Cascadia Wikimedians User Group had our annual meeting at
the University of Washington in Seattle. Meeting notes (not yet finalized)
are available at
http://cascadia.wiki/Workroom/Meeting_minutes/December_17,_2016.

Regards,

Pine
Acting Secretary
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] English Fundraiser Update

[Sam Klein]

Lisa & Jaime -

Congratulations to all on a fast campaign.  Is this the fastest
time-to-goal on record?

This is a season in which neutrality and genuineness are precious
commodities. No surprise that many people I know have given more than usual
to projects such as ours.  I hope you can complement this with open and
genuine messaging.

On Fri, Dec 16, 2016 at 6:52 PM, Michael Peel  wrote:

> Continuing the English fundraiser as part of reaching the global
> fundraising target makes sense to me.

Continuing the fundraiser after the global target has been reached is
> rather more concerning - except where the funds are being raised
> specifically for the endowment.
>

This seems right to me.

Clear and welcoming messages build trust.  You can thank everyone for
helping reach the goal quickly, and be clear about where further funds go.
Funds raised over the annual target, before the end of the fiscal year, can
go into the endowment - again with clear & grateful language once the
annual goal is reached.

Budgeting deserves its own consideration.  Having a prioritized list of
future projects is great for communicating intent and helping the movement
plan.  But expanding the budget has implications for reserves, endowment,
and future budgets + strategy.  If surplus goes to new projects, then
"everyone giving $3" would not mean "no fundraising needed for years to
come". In fact the overhead associated with persistent projects could make
it harder to sustain operations next year.

Finally, as you find that you have spare banner-cycles because of the
successful campaign, *please use that same banner space* and your talent
for connection to honor and inspire editors, donors, and readers.  A more
than perfunctory thank-you. A good fundraiser is a victory over the
commercial forces that make the Internet and most media suck; its success
should be a story we can all hold on to and share. :)

Warmly,
SJ
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] English Fundraiser Update

[David Cuenca Tudela]

And here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/wikipedia/comments/5ik9zc/wikimedia_has_more_money_than_it_knows_what_to_do/



On Sat, Dec 17, 2016 at 7:14 PM, carl hansen 
wrote:

> also being discussed at
> https://news.slashdot.org/story/16/12/16/1631223/
> wikipedia-exceeds-fundraising-target-but-continues-asking-for-more-money
>
> fyi
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-- 
Etiamsi omnes, ego non
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] English Fundraiser Update

[carl hansen]

also being discussed at
https://news.slashdot.org/story/16/12/16/1631223/wikipedia-exceeds-fundraising-target-but-continues-asking-for-more-money

fyi
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] English Fundraiser Update

[Pine W]

I've been thinking about this situation.

I am grateful that the goal was met early.

As much as these new goals are nice, they should have been included in
the original target amount if WMF said or implied that the campaign
would stop when a specific amount of money was raised.

It's especially uncomfortable for me that I'm hearing a lot of
interest in WMF in promoting Wikipedia's principles of verifiability
and neutrality in fundraising, when WMF in its fundraising said one
thing and then goes off to do something else. Imagine what would
happen if I received a grant from WMF for purpose X and then decided
to do Y with it without getting advance permission from WMF. That
wouldn't go over very well. I appreciate that budgets and timelines of
projects are difficult to estimate correctly and that project scopes
change, but there are limits to the flexibility.

While I like the new goals, at a minimum the text of the campaign
should be changed to reflect that the original goal was reached and
that WMF is asking for additional funds above the original goal. My
preference would be that the campaign be stopped because WMF should
prioritize integrity above expedience; WMF has other opportunities to
raise additional funds from other sources, WMF has considerable
reserves, and I can't see that there is a critical need to continue
this particular fundraising campaign. When WMF tells its donors
something WMF should make every reasonable effort to adhere to what it
said it would do.

Pine



On Fri, Dec 16, 2016 at 11:17 PM, Anders Wennersten
 wrote:
> It seems the whole world is full of spreading lies nowadays.
>
> I feel very sad that now even we are following this trend
>
> If we stated we would stop when the target was met, so we should stop when
> the target was met
>
> Anders
> who are commited to spread correct facts through Wikipedia, as a
> counterforce to all loose statement
>
> 016-12-17 kl. 07:06, skrev Peter Southwood:
>
>> If you wanted to continue past the target, the message should NOT imply
>> that you would stop at the target.
>> Cheers,
>> Peter
>>
>> -Original Message-
>> From: Wikimedia-l [mailto:wikimedia-l-boun...@lists.wikimedia.org] On
>> Behalf Of Lisa Gruwell
>> Sent: Friday, 16 December 2016 8:05 PM
>> To: Wikimedia Mailing List
>> Subject: [Wikimedia-l] English Fundraiser Update
>>
>> Hi everyone,
>>
>> As most of you know, we run our English-language online fundraiser on
>> Wikipedia every year in December. It’s our biggest fundraiser of the year.
>> During this time we raise the bulk of funds to support our operating
>> budget to support the projects, fund community efforts around the world, and
>> run the Wikimedia Foundation.
>>
>> This year, we are happy to report we’ve reached our goal of US$25 million
>> in record time. This is a testament to the importance of Wikimedia and how
>> much support we have from people all over the world.
>>
>> Given this momentum, we believe that it would be wise and worthwhile to
>> continue to fundraise more in the month of December, for the following
>> reasons:
>>
>> 1. While we have reached our goal for the December campaign, we have not
>> yet reached our fundraising goal for Fiscal Year 2016-17 (July 2016 - July
>> 2017).
>>
>> Continuing the English fundraiser gives us security and flexibility
>> through the end of the fiscal year. It allows us to have a less aggressive
>> banner schedule in coming months, which gives us time for more research and
>> better localization.
>>
>> 2. We have clear programmatic uses for additional funds.
>>
>> We have some important projects that could use additional funds and are
>> ready to proceed. We plan to direct additional funds to the following work:
>>
>>
>> 1.
>>
>> The buildout of an additional caching center, to improve site
>> performance for users across Asia and Oceania [1].
>> 2.
>>
>> Investment in additional support for structured data on Wikimedia
>> Commons and improved integration with the Wikidata roadmap [2].
>> 3.
>>
>> Support for community health initiatives, including additional support
>> for the Community Engagement team [3].
>> 4.
>>
>> Support for an inclusive and truly global movement strategy process
>> [4].
>> 5.
>>
>> Growing the endowment in order to secure our future [5].
>>
>>
>> You can find more information about each of these areas of work below.
>>
>>
>>
>> We have chosen these projects because they directly support our mission
>> and respond to the needs of Wikimedia communities and users. We also believe
>> these investments are investments in our future: support for a diverse
>> global community, increased resourcing for sister projects, a healthier
>> community culture, a shared direction for the future of the movement, and
>> security for our mission in perpetuity.
>>
>> Here is what we will do: We intend to continue with the banners for a few
>> more days. We would then take them down over the Christmas holiday,

[Wikimedia-l] AffCom call for new members

[Maor Malul]

Dear all,

The Affiliations Committee – the committee responsible for guiding 
volunteers in establishing Wikimedia chapters, thematic organizations, 
and user groups – is looking for new members!  If you are interested in 
joining us, please submit an application by 31 December 2016.


Based on the successful experience of last call, this one will include 
too a public review and comment period.  All applications will be posted 
on Meta, and all members of the community are invited to provide 
comments and feedback about each candidate, always keeping a friendly tone.


The full call for candidates, which contains more information on the 
committee's work, membership criteria, and instructions for how to 
apply, can be found on Meta at 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliations_Committee/MassMessages/Call_for_candidates_-_December_2016


We invite all community members to consider to apply or invite those 
members that you think could make it cool as AffCom members. We make a 
special call to women since AffCom is worried to keep or increase its 
women quota among its members.


If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me or any 
other member of the committee.


Regards,
M


--
"*Jülüjain wane mmakat* ein kapülain tü alijunakalirua jee wayuukanairua 
junain ekerolaa alümüin supüshuwayale etijaanaka. Ayatashi waya junain."

Maor Malul
Socio, A.C. Wikimedia Venezuela | RIF J-40129321-2 | 
www.wikimedia.org.ve 

Member, Wikimedia Israel | www.wikimedia.org.il 
Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Affiliations Committee
Phone: +972-52-4869915
Twitter: @maor_x
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