Hoi,
I am really surprised how little attention this is getting.
I have a few questions, observations. When I read the arguments for cutting
the request of the German chapter, I get the impression that the Germans
are punished. I also find no considerations to the consequences of NOT
providing the requested funding. There are many people employed by the
German chapter, are they to be dismissed or is there to be less money for
activities? When I read about the Dutch request, they are praised for being
prudent and careful planners but they are punished for not being actively
involved in fundraising.
The WIkimedia Foundation deliberately excluded the chapters from the
fundraising efforts. Enough comments have been made about this recently; it
is obvious to many that the WMF seems not to care too much about what funds
are raised outside the USA. There is also no relation between fundraising
in a country and activities in a country. I am annoyed that the WMF is so
two faced in this.
The process of handing out gifts makes beggars of the chapters. They have
to comply with the vagaries of what committee members think at a given
time. The process of handing out is very much solidified in time and from
the impression I get this is true for the chapters but not for the WMF
itself. When it finds a need to do whatever, it can. When a chapter finds
the same need it cannot.
In my opinion by making chapters second class citizens, the WMF will remain
USA and English centred. That does not help our goal of sharing in the sum
of all available knowledge.
Thanks,
GerardM
PS there are more chapters where I am not happy about the granting of gifts
either.
On 21 November 2014 at 17:34, Dariusz Jemielniak dar...@alk.edu.pl wrote:
Greetings, friends,
As you all know, the Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) meets twice a year
to help make decisions about how to effectively allocate movement funds to
achieve the Wikimedia movement's mission, vision, and strategy. [1] We
recently met in San Francisco to deliberate on the 11 annual plan grant
proposals submitted for this round of review. [2] We thank these
organizations for their hard work on their annual plans and proposals.
The FDC has now posted our Round 1 2014-2015 recommendations on the annual
plan grants to the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees:
http://goo.gl/Ea7d4I . [3]
With the support of the FDC’s two Board Representatives (Bishakha Datta and
Frieda Brioschi), the WMF Board will review the recommendations and then
make their decision on them by 1 January 2015.
This round, proposals came from ten chapters and one thematic organization,
totaling requests of roughly $4.7 million USD. Before our face-to-face
deliberations, which were held from 15-18 November, the FDC reviewed the
proposals in careful detail, aided by staff assessments and analysis on
impact, finances, and programs, as well as community comments on the
proposals. Our conversations were intense and the decisions were not easy;
each proposal was carefully considered both in its own context and
environment, and strengths and concerned were discussed. We are
recommending grants totaling roughly $3.8 million USD.
Now that the recommendations have been published, there is a formal process
to submit complaints or appeals to the Board. Here are the steps for both:
Any organization that would like to submit an appeal on the FDC’s Round 1
recommendation should submit it to the Board representatives to the
FDC by 23:59
UTC on 8 December 2014 in accordance with the appeal process outlined in
the FDC Framework. A formal appeal to challenge the FDC’s recommendation
should be in the form of a 500-or-fewer word summary directed to the two
non-voting WMF Board representatives to the FDC (Frieda Brioschi and
Bishakha Datta). The appeal should be submitted on-wiki, [4] and must be
submitted by the Board Chair of a funding-seeking applicant. The Board will
publish its decision on this and all recommendations by 1 Jan 2015.
Complaints to the ombudsperson about the FDC process can be filed by anyone
with the Ombudsperson and can be made any time. The complaint should be
submitted on wiki, as well. [5] The ombudsperson will publicly document the
complaint, and investigate as needed.
Please have a look at the calendar [6] to see other upcoming milestones in
the annual plan grants / FDC process.
Again, we offer our sincere thanks to the 11 organizations who submitted
annual plan grant proposals to the FDC.
On behalf of the FDC,
Dariusz Jemielniak (pundit, FDC Chair)
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG
[2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Proposals/2014-2015_round1
[3]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/FDC_portal/FDC_recommendations/2014-2015_round1
[4]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Appeals_to_the_Board_on_the_recommendations_of_the_FDC
[5]
