On Mon, Nov 10, 2008 at 11:13 PM, Ian Woollard <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote:
> On 10/11/2008, geni <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > 2008/11/10 Ian Woollard <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > >> I just think that the wikipedia needs to get itself to the point where > >> the interest on the money it has is enough to run the servers forever, > >> and any excess per year can be given to charity. > > > > At 5% interest you would still be needing $40-80 million +. There is > > at this time no way to do this. > > But I think that needs to be the goal. And the fund-raising would go > differently if that is the goal. It's basically not possible for a US-based 501(c)(3) organization to risklessly pre-fund itself in perpetuity. Google "private foundation payout requirement". > It's a bit like how many universities > work, and it wouldn't take that many people dying and leaving their > money to the wikipedia to reach that level. It might take a few years > to raise the money, but it should reach it eventually. > It's not at all like how universities work. For one thing, universities are given special treatment under 509(a)(1) of the IRC. They're essentially exempt from the public support test. But that's because universities rely on tuition payments to keep themselves going. Unless the WMF wants to start charging tuition fees, the university funding model is unavailable to it. The purpose of the WMF is to serve the public. Pre-funding it for perpetuity is pretty much guaranteed to destroy its incentives for continuing to serve the public. That's fine for something like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, created by a small number of people to further their legacy, but that's not what the WMF is about. _______________________________________________ WikiEN-l mailing list WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l
